SIX Oxfordshire women who suffered the shock of being diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 45 are aiming to give shoppers a more pleasant surprise today.

They will pose as living mannequins in the shop window of Aspire Style in Oxford’s High Street as part of Beat Cancer Awareness month and will shock unwitting passersby.

Volunteers will be waiting outside the shop to collect money from the stunned shoppers and help them find out more about how to spotting the disease early.

Aspire Style manager Catherine Kettlewell was diagnosed in November 2012, just a month after she got engaged to her husband Richard.

Our top stories

or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.

After major surgery on both her breasts and a course of radiography she managed to beat the disease and decided to help others spot the signs early like she had.

She said: “We thought what better way to raise awareness and money than to get people to look at us in the window of a high street shop.

“People who see us will see that we had breast cancer at a very young age.”

The 35-year-old from Banbury said the shop would be donating 10 per cent of its takings today to Breast Cancer Care.

She said: “I am going to try to stay still in the window and wait for people to walk past and then freak them out.”

Mrs Kettlewell met one of her fellow mannequins, Victoria Lyall, while they were undergoing treatment last year.

Ms Lyall, of Sutton Courtney, was diagnosed just five days before her 29th birthday but is now in remission.

She said: “It is such a shock being diagnosed at a young age. Friends and family try to help but they don’t know what it’s like and it is hard to tell them.At a young age you don’t meet people of the same age in hospital very much.”

She said she hoped the event would ensure other young women are aware of the risks of breast cancer.

She said: “Instead of putting a status on Facebook, which doesn’t help anyone, we’re doing this. It’s a bit different, it isn’t just another cake sale.”

Mrs Kettlewell and Ms Lyall will be modelling with Dulcie Dunbar, Colette O’Shaughnessy, Lisa Pataridou and Naz Derakshan today from 11am to 5pm.

To donate online

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.