‘I FEEL LUCKY’

SINCE recovering from ovarian cancer, Sue Vipond has a new outlook on life.

“If something is getting me down, I think, ‘Well you dealt with that, you can deal with this’,” she says. “I feel lucky. I know that my experience could have been very different.”

Retired nurse, Sue, 68, is now passionate about raising awareness of the signs of cancer and improving early diagnosis.

She herself went to see her GP in the spring of 2009 after suffering almost constant abdominal pain.

Sue, from Scotland, explains: “After blood tests and a scan, they discovered a cyst in my ovaries. I had to have an emergency operation because the cyst had ruptured.

“When the consultant told me it was cancer I was really upset, but then I thought, ‘Right, I’ve just got to deal with this.’ “My cancer was diagnosed early. It’s far easier to remain positive when you know it’s been found at an early stage.”

Undergoing six cycles of chemotherapy, mum-of-three Sue admits that there were days when she felt “terrible” but she still managed to carry on as normal, volunteering at her local Cancer Research UK charity shop which she has done for 25 years.

She says: “We all need to do as much as we can to make sure there’s research happening to improve tests and treatments for cancer and find new ones.”