Brother and sister Derek and Susanne Foster face a joint battle for life after both were struck by breast cancer.

They are believed to be the first male and female siblings in Britain to have the illness simultaneously.

Mr Foster, 59, was diagnosed in February 2004 and his sister, 55, was told she had the disease in July 2003.

Mr Foster, from Thornaby, near Stockton, says suffering from breast cancer has given him an insight into a world rarely glimpsed by men.

He is now appealing to the NHS to pay more attention to male sufferers.

About 41,700 people are diagnosed with the disease in the UK each year. Of this number, only 250 are men.

Mr Foster, a married father-of-one, said: "I would be the only man at the clinic with 20 women. All eyes were on me when the nurse called for Mr Foster.

"Even though there are only hundreds of men diagnosed, compared to thousands of women, they need to know it can happen."

He has had surgery to remove the tumour and now says nothing can keep him down.

For his sister, who was already battling cancer when he was diagnosed, it was a heavy blow to have to deal with on top of her illness.

But she said that the love and support of her brother has given her a fresh boost of confidence in the way that she views her own disease.

Now, after intensive treatments with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, she is bouncing back to appear as a model at the Life After Cancer fashion show, in Yarm, near Stockton, organised by fellow cancer survivors.