Mother who fought off cancer twice says telling her children of her diagnosis was one of the hardest parts of the battle

Helen Webb, 39, was first diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2013 but after being told a few months later she was in remission she was "shell-shocked" to be told the cancer was back.

This time it was worse than before, with Mrs Webb being diagnosed with stage four bone marrow cancer of the groin, armpits and stomach.

The mother-of-two said: "The worst point is not knowing whether it will be okay.

"You're just in shock and there's this kind of blankness where you don't know how to feel.

"I was very scared to tell my children that I had cancer because I didn't want to hurt them, so I told them Mummy was a little bit poorly and would have to be on special medicine for a while

"I tried to keep it lighthearted for them, so when I had chemotherapy and lost my hair we used to joke that I was like Jessie J."

Mrs Webb, who lives near to Stokenchurch, said her children Millie, four, and Isla, seven, were "amazing" throughout the ordeal, which she described as being a complete blur.

She said: "I couldn't do very much throughout my treatment but one of the hardest parts was being told I was in remission.

"I felt as if the safety net had been pulled away from me and it took quite a few months to learn how to live without cancer and how to keep myself busy and most of that is down to Maggie's."

On being told the cancer was gone, Mrs Webb joined a group at the Maggie's Centre called Where Now, which works with cancer patients from the moment they are diagnosed until they are given the all clear.

She said: "When you're given the all clear it's a reality check because you realise your life will never be the same as it was before, but then you think 'do I even want it to go back to the way it was before'?

"It certainly puts life into perspective and being part of a group with very different lives and different cancers was amazing because we had all had one thing in common: we were moving on together.

"But Maggie's was incredible in talking us through recovering from cancer - we spoke about our feelings, how to help ourselves, nutritious, exercise and positivity."

The special needs support worker said she would encourage anyone battling cancer to fight it with positivity.

She said: "If you've got cancer, I think you need to keep an open mind and be positive because that's half the battle won.

"Maggie's shows you how to be positive with all of its sessions and I would encourage anyone living with cancer to go in and get the support they need."

To get in contact with Maggie's visit: maggiescentres.org/our-centres/maggies-oxford/