Neston mum with stage four cancer prepares for Maggie's On The Runway

Lisa Dearnley, from Little Neston, was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2017.

She immediately started six months of chemotherapy and targeted therapy followed by surgery and radiotherapy. In 2018 she was given the all clear.

However, in July 2022 Lisa was found to have tumours in her right lung, shoulder, neck, ribs, pelvis, spine, and leg. She was diagnosed with stage four incurable cancer.

Speaking to the Globe, she said: "When I received the gut punching news that my cancer had returned and was now terminal I knew I wanted to go to Maggie's when I was discharged.

"This incredible charity had been there for me and my family during my primary diagnosis five years earlier, providing emotional and financial support, advice on benefits, wellbeing classes, and most importantly, friendship."

Lisa Jessica Dearnley (Image: Lisa Jessica Dearnley)

Lisa was hospitalised in September 2022 with a chest infection leading to considerable pain in her lower back from coughing.

It was found the tumour on her vertebrae was in a dangerous position causing her great pain and leg weakness.

The 41-year-old added: "Maggie's helped me through some of the darkest moments of my life, in fact it was Maggie's I was planning a trek for and to celebrate being five years cancer free when I started with pain in my pelvis.

"At first I thought I had overdone the training but the pain never went away and when my oxygen began to drop I was admitted into hospital where scans showed the cancer had returned in my lungs and widespread throughout my bones.

"I quickly went downhill after that. I had a lung washing, where they fill your lung with water and then extract it to test the cancer cells, unfortunately this left me with an infection and upon coughing I fractured multiple ribs, slipped two discs and pushed a tumour out onto the nerve root.

"I spent two months bedridden and using a wheelchair, sitting up was so painful and thoughts of treks for Maggie's disappeared as even walking to the loo became a trek."

Taking on a challenge

Now, Lisa is much better and can walk again with a stick, so has decided to "give something back".

On November 17 Lisa will be taking part in Maggie's On The Runway 2023 - a charity appeal event where she'll be walking down the catwalk at Concord Manchester Airport alongside Rick Astley, The Manchester fire brigade and her "new friends who have all had or are living with cancer".

"Anyone who knows me knows I'm incredibly shy and spent most of my career backstage or behind the scenes so to be up there in front of hundreds of people is such a big thing for me and totally out of my comfort zone", she said.

Lisa has a target of £500, which will go to Maggie's to support those affected by cancer.

To donate, visit here.