ROSEMARY Alexander was just 42 with three young children when doctors told her she had breast cancer.

Now she is taking part in Saturday’s Pink Ribbonwalk fundraiser at Blenheim Palace to show the disease can and must be beaten.

Mrs Alexander, 49, of Cumnor Hill, Oxford, is well advanced with training for her first event.

She said: “I am walking with a friend, and last Saturday we did 18 miles, which went pretty quickly as we chatted all the while.

“We have joked that we won’t talk now – so we have plenty to say on the day!”

Explaining how she discovered the cancer, Mrs Alexander said: “I found a lump below my breast in 2005.

“I had a needle biopsy which was inconclusive and I honestly thought it was nothing to worry about. So I had the lump removed and went back on my own for the results.

“When they told me it was breast cancer I was absolutely stunned.”

Mrs Alexander, a part-time accountant with St Hugh’s College, Oxford, was 42 and mum to Laura, 12, Katie, nine and Grace, five.

She said: “My husband Tony was there when I was told it was a grade four tumour and that I should consider chemo, as well as radiotherapy.

“I told the children I needed an operation first, but that it was nothing to worry about. Then I told them I needed some more treatment, but that it was still nothing to worry about.

“Tony is also an accountant, so right from the start he weighed up all the doctors’ statistics and was a huge support, telling me that everything was going to be OK.”

During her search for advice and information she came across charity Breast Cancer Care.

It benefits from the 20-mile walk, for which Mrs Alexander will join other women – decked in pink outfits – on Saturday.

She said: “I wanted to find other women who had been through it and were still alive to tell the tale. When a friend suggested the Ribbonwalk I jumped at the chance, and in helping publicise it I also hope to inspire women going through cancer.”