A MUM-of-five who has spent the last nine months fighting breast cancer is set to take part in a fundraising 5k race, in what she hopes will be the first step in getting her life back on track.

Kellie Rea, who is just 36, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer last September and has since had a lumpectomy and six cycles of gruelling chemotherapy.

She is currently receiving radiotherapy and said she is determined to get her life back to normal.

Kellie, of Painter Wood, Billington, said signing up for next weekend’s ‘Race for Life’ in Burnley will help her ‘look to the future again’.

She said: “Being ill means I have had more time to be reflective and I’m determined to do the things I’ve always wanted to do now.

“Getting cancer so young changed my life dramatically and now I realise there’s no point putting things off. If there’s anything you want to do in life do it, because you just don’t know what’s around the corner.”

Kellie, who is married to Nigel and has three stepchildren, Ben 22, Joe, 20 and Samantha, 17, along with daughter Shannon, 13, and son Michael, 11, had discovered a lump in her breast while taking a shower in August last year, and despite thinking it was a blocked milk duct or cyst, saw her GP just in case.

She had to give up her job as a childminder when she was diagnosed at Burnley General Hospital, but said her worst fear was telling her children the bad news.

She added: “Their grandfather had died of cancer, so this was the only example they knew. I want to let them know that it doesn’t have to mean a death sentence. That’s why I’m determined to live life as normally as possible and just get on with my treatment and get through it.”

Kellie will take part in the Cancer Research UK event at Towneley Park on Sunday, June 15, along 15 of her close friends and family, including daughters Shannon and Samantha, who all supported her through her cancer ordeal.

The Blackburn Race for Life will take place on Wednesday, June 25 at Witton Park.

To enter one of the 5k, 10k or Pretty Muddy races, visit www.raceforlife.org or call 0845 600 6050.

To sponsor Kellie, who has already raised £460, see: http://www.justgiving.com/kellies-great-girls