Lucy Parton was getting ready to go to a family party when she discovered a small lump on her breast, writes GEMMA SIMMS. Being only 24 at the time, Lucy was not worried but showed it to her mum who advised her to go to the family GP to check it out.

Her doctor was away so Lucy, who lives in Kidlington, ended up seeing a locum doctor who booked her in for an appointment at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

At the hospital, doctors reassured her that it was probably nothing to worry about. They even found it difficult to find the lump at all because it was so small about one centimetre in diameter.

Lucy, now 30, said: "I had lost a bit of weight and was getting ready for the party when I discovered the lump. I wasn't that worried, even when I went to see a locum doctor who referred me to the hospital."

A small sample of fluid was taken from the lump to be tested, but as the biopsy was done between Christmas and New Year, Lucy spent a pleasant holiday reassured that nothing was wrong.

But early in the January, she received a telephone call from Mr Greenhall, her doctor at the John Radcliffe Hospital, informing her that the lump was breast cancer. Lucy said: "It was all quite bizarre and it didn't really hit home what was happening, even when they told me I had a tumour.

"I was shocked initially but I felt I had to be strong for my family as well as for myself."

Lucy was booked in for an operation two weeks later to remove the lump.

This was followed by six weeks of radiotherapy, which Lucy coped with very well without suffering any ill-effects, and the treatment was successful.

Shortly after she was treated for cancer, two of her friends were also diagnosed with the disease and they found it very reassuring to speak to Lucy about what she had been through.

Five years on, Lucy is fit, well and totally recovered for the experience.

She works as sales support for a publishing company in Oxford and thanks her lucky stars she found the lump when she did.

"It's the sort of thing you never expect would happen to you, so imagine the shock being told you have breast cancer at the age of 24. "However, with effective treatment and fantastic support from friends and family, I am thankful to say I am living a full and happy life."

To show their gratitude, Lucy and her boyfriend David Smith are taking part in the Think Pink Abseil, being held on Saturday 31 October and Sunday November 1, with , to raise money for Imperial Cancer's Research Fund's research into breast cancer.

To sign up for the abseil down the Women's Centre of the John Radcliffe Hospital on the Sunday, call Ruth on 01865 716655.

One in 12 women in the UK will get breast cancer at some stage in their lives.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the UK.

The Imperial Cancer Research Fund, the largest independent cancer research institute in Europe, and a charity is working hard to find new answers to breast cancer.

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