A BREAST cancer survivor from Darlington this week helped to launch a major fundraising and awareness campaign for Cancer Research UK.

Shirley Gibson, 58, posed with 11 pink roses to symbolise the average number of women diagnosed with breast cancer every day in the North.

Cancer Research UK's latest campaign, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, focuses on the steps being taken to tackle the disease.

Mrs Gibson said: "I am living proof that there are effective treatments. Sadly, however, not everyone survives. This is why I am supporting Cancer Research UK's campaign, to highlight the need for more research."

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 1990. "I felt terrible when I discovered I had the disease. There is a history of breast cancer in my family and I feared the worst," she said.

Mrs Gibson's younger sister, Ann, died from the disease in 1975, aged 27. Soon afterwards, her cousin Frieda also died from breast cancer, aged 34.

She adds: "My children Johann and Andrew were just 17 and 15 when I was diagnosed. All I could think was that I wanted a few more years, to see them grow up."

Mrs Gibson had a mastectomy and also took the drug tamoxifen for eight years.

Mrs Gibson is now determined to help other women with the condition, as an active member of the Darlington and Teesdale Breast Cancer Support Group, which offers help and advice to local women at any stage of their treatment.

People who want to help can take part in sponsored walks at the Tyne Riverside Country Park, Newburn, Newcastle, on Sunday, October 24, and Grizedale Forest, Hawkshead, Cumbria, on Sunday, October 10.