A 75-YEAR-OLD great-grandmother who under-went a mastectomy is urging other women not to ignore signs of pot-ential breast cancer.

Doreen Sanderson had to undergo three operations within five weeks last August when doctors diagnosed she had cancer.

The retired school cook, who lives in Parker Street, Rishton, had been on holiday with her partner Frank Jex, 74, when she noticed bleeding coming from her breast.

She put it down to anxiety after losing her husband Michael in 2009.

But when it continued, she decided to get checked out by her GP.

Mrs Sanderson said: “The bleeding had cleared up for a few months, but it came back again.

“On the third time I thought I had better go see about it.

“There was nobody more shocked than me because I thought there was nothing wrong with me.

“They referred me to the breast clinic at Burnley and the doctor there said I needed an operation.

“When I went back for the results, they said they were sorry but that I had to have my breast removed.”

After having an operation to remove her left breast, Mrs Sanderson was also told that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and needed another operation to remove them.

But the mother-of-two is now recovering at home, taking tablets instead of having chemotherapy, and she celebrated with a birthday party at the Free Gardeners Working Men’s Club, Rishton, which raised £400 for research into breast cancer She added: “I would defin-itely encourage people to go and get tested.

“Whatever you feel, just go and have it done because you never know.”

Mr Jex, who is well known in local entertainment circles, and lives in Dunoon Drive, Shadsworth, Black-burn said: “Doreen has been so brave with what she has put up with and she has never let it get her down.”