HER efforts in Race for Life have raised thousands of pounds to help people with cancer.

Now Jayne Duke's fundraising has taken on a new poignancy as the 41-year-old battles the disease herself.

Jayne, from Hamble, had already raised more than £2,000 for Cancer Research UK when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer last April.

This year she will have the honour of being among the courageous women leading the 10,000- strong throng at the city's Race for Life.

When Jayne noticed a pain in her right breast almost a year ago, she decided sensibly to get it checked out by her GP.

A biopsy revealed a harmless cyst surrounded by a cancerous mass.

"You imagine that your reaction would be oh my God' but instead I started worrying about all the trivial things I was supposed to be doing that day," remembers Jayne.

"I thought I would be going to work the next day. Your daily routine just becomes so important.

"It's not that you try and push the cancer to the back of your mind because you can't but I think that survival instinct makes you focus on the everyday things."

Within two weeks of her diagnosis, Jayne was admitted to hospital for a partial mastectomy.

Surgeons removed the cancerous tissue and a generous section of tissue around it before reconstructing the breast using muscle from Jayne's back.

"It has given such a natural result," she says lifting her tee shirt to prove it. "It's really important that women are offered re-constructive surgery at the same time as the mastectomy. I woke up and I was the same woman as when I went to sleep. That's so important for mental strength when you're going through something like this."

As well as the surgery, Jayne underwent eight gruelling chemotherapy courses and five sessions of radiotherapy.

But she refused to let it get in the way of her fundraising, bravely walking the 5k Race for Life route last year despite being in the middle of her chemotherapy.

"I'm a tough old bird!" she laughs.

"But I do go through difficult phases and I'm not going to say chemo was a walk in the park.

"You know how women always say they forget the pain of childbirth? It's the same with me. I forget how awful chemo was but there were two occasions when I thought I'm not doing any more'.

"You have to constantly rally yourself to do something you know will make you ill.

"Your focus is on the treatment and it's only when it finishes you start to think what you have been through and what it means."

Jayne finished her chemotherapy in November, an experience which she says left her feeling "battle weary".

But she hasn't given herself much time to rest. Jayne is already preparing for this year's Race for Life.

"Because I'd done it a few times before, I wanted to do something different this time, so we're going to auction our bottoms! Friends and businesses can pay to sponsor our bums with a message on our tracksuits."

Jayne and 12 of her friends and family will be asking people to bid for their bums at a charity auction next month.

"I think we'll start the bidding at £20 a bum," she giggles.

"I first did Race for Life because I wanted to get fit and I thought it would raise money for a good cause at the same time. It's always an emotional day but it will mean even more this year.

"It's the spirit of the event - all the women together with personal stories to tell. It's quite a healing experience."

n Jayne's Pretty in Pink party and charity auction is at Boomerang Restaurant and Bar in Hamble on April 26.

Tickets cost £35 with £10 going straight to Race for Life If you would like to find out more, buy tickets or sponsor Jayne's Race for Life, visit raceforlifesponsorme.org/bub