A WOMAN who has fought and survived three different types of cancer says she owes it to the ‘ladies who did not make it’ to share her story and help save lives.

Becky Parsons counts herself as one of the ‘lucky ones’ after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at an early stage, which then led doctors to discover she also had womb and kidney cancer.

Speaking out during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, the Northbourne Primary School teacher from Didcot is urging for women to ‘trust their bodies’ and speak to GPs about their symptoms.

The 50-year-old was diagnosed with stage 1C ovarian cancer in April 2015 but said she experienced symptoms of the disease for over a year before.

She said: “All I can say to women is to trust your body, I knew I was ill.

“About three or four months before my diagnosis I had a lump in my abdomen, I was bloated all the time and I kept needing to go to the toilet a lot more.

“I think ignorance is the biggest killer and this is why I want to tell my story. I feel I owe it to the ladies who did not make it.”

Doctors found that Mrs Parsons had a 16cm ovarian cyst and when they removed it found it was cancerous.

They then discovered she also had early stage womb cancer but it was not until she underwent a course of chemotherapy and had a follow-up CT scan that doctors found she also had kidney cancer.

She said: “I am one of the lucky ones, all of my cancers were found in the early stages.

“We need to be educating women in their 30s and 40s and get a conversation started about what to look out for.

"Women have their children, they lead busy lives and they do not think about themselves or about the need to see a doctor if something is wrong."

“A lot of ovarian cancer diagnosis is at the later stage, when survival chances are lower.”

Supported by her husband Mike and two children Katy and Chris, Mrs Parsons said two years since her diagnosis her family have become a lot stronger.

She said: “My daughter Katy came with me when I had one session of chemotherapy and so did my husband.

“They were so supportive and so amazing.

“I think two years down the line this has made us much stronger and closer.

“People also need to realise that cancer is not necessarily a death sentence and it is about learning to live well with it.”

And now Mrs Parsons is celebrating returning to ‘normal’ and being back in the classroom.

She added: “Now I live as if everything is fun until they tell me otherwise.

“We went to Florida last year to Disney World."

But it is not just her story Mrs Parsons is telling in order to raise awareness.

She along with other women who have had or have ovarian cancer will be strutting their stuff on the catwalk on Saturday, March 18 at the May Fair hotel in London, organised by Ovacome, an ovarian cancer charity.

For more information or to donate visit: justgiving.com/fundraising/beckyjparsons?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=beckyjparsons&utm_campaign=pfp-share