'I was diagnosed on September 2001 at 37 years of age. I'd had a rash on my nipple for a couple of months, and after seeing a few doctors I went to a dermatologist who did a biopsy. It came back as diffuse large B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The thing was: I was pregnant at the time.

'The oncologist ordered a bone marrow biopsy, but I couldn't have a CT scan because of the pregnancy. After an agonising wait we were told that it wasn't in my bone marrow but just in breast, so the pregnancy could go ahead.

'I got to week 13 and started radiotherapy on my left breast. In the third week of treatment my breast literally doubled in size over night. Urgent tests showed that the cancer was now highly aggressive and in my bone marrow. But I was now 16 weeks pregnant.

'I began chemotherapy (six cycles every 3 weeks), finishing when I was 32 weeks pregnant. I had lots of scans to check if everything looked okay with the baby. I continued to work - I actually finished work at 35 weeks and had Rachel, my daughter, at 37 weeks: a healthy 2.8 kg baby and a quick birth (3 hours).

'Unfortunately, things were about to get worse. At my 6-week checkup I nearly jumped off the table with pain during the examination. Tumours had now spread throughout my stomach and pelvis. I had to have a hysterectomy, followed by more chemotherapy and eventually a bone marrow transplant. My amazing family took turns to stay with us to look after Rachel (I really did not have much to do with her for her first 12 months). I had the transplant in October 2002 when Rachel was 5 months old.

'In March 2003. I was feeling pretty positive about my recovery, but a routine PET scan revealed more bad news. The cancer had returned in my left breast. Along with this I was severely immunosuppressed. Most of 2003 was spent in and out of hospital with pneumonia, shingles, and having various treatments to try to halt the cancer.

'Finally, in 2004, when nothing had reduced the cancer in my breast, I was offered a mastectomy. All in all, a simple operation compared with everything else I had experienced!

'I won't pretend that the 2 years in remission since then have been easy. People think that, when you say you are in "remission", you are automatically back to normal. There is no �normal� after cancer, especially if it has been a long journey. I am now 42 years old, and the last 4 years have sped past in a bit of a blur. I try to remind myself that I beaten the odds and try to savour the moments. Rachel is now almost 4 years old and is a healthy, happy loving little girl. Just today for the first time I was able to shuffle next to her while she rode her bicycle around the park.'