I am the managing director of La Petite Academy.

www.lapetiteacademy.co.uk

Last September, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a lumpectomy followed by 4 weeks of radiotherapy. I continued to work at the nursery throughout the treatment and the girls at work were fantastic, deeply concerned and very understanding.

I am on the drug tamoxifen for the next 5 years and will have another check up and mammagram in August this year. Apparently I cannot be called a survivor until after the 5 year marker? However, I feel fantastic and live everyday to the max - but there is not one day goes by where I do not fear the return of the big C!

The girls at La Petite Academy recently asked me if I wanted to organise a Race for Life event day so that the nursery team could get together to raise money for Breast Cancer. Whilst I am in support of this very worthy charity which supports research into breast cancer, I felt I wanted to give something back to Derby where I received such fantastic treatment and where I felt that the women who I come into contact with every day at work - including the parents/ friends and grandparents of the 140 children we have on role at the nursery, would benefit if anything should happen to them in the future.

Therefore we have decided as a group to stay at Derby Gaol overnight from 9pm to 4am on Friday 15th June, to raise money for the Derby Breast Test Appeal together with the Derby Breast Unit Charity under the Derby Hospital Charitable Trust. We are asking parents to sponsor us within the nursery and we are a team of 16 girls who are individually raising money through sponsorship.

Breast cancer is becoming more common - with a statistic of 1 in 8 women in their lifetime being affected at some stage in their lives.

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