WHEN Deb Hunt was told she had breast cancer on April 1 2008, April Fool's Day, she said it was ‘one of the worst jokes she had ever heard’.

But since then, Mrs Hunt, of Fleming Close, in Middle Barton, has thrown herself out of a plane, organised a money spinning naked male calendar, and next month will tackle Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to ‘stick two fingers up’ to the illness.

Now the 45-year-old mum-of-two is one of four people who have been chosen by charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer to compete in their annual Inspiration Awards for Women.

Mrs Hunt said, unbeknown to her, that three of her friends had entered her for the Inspirational Fundraiser category.

She said: “The first I knew about it was when I got the call to tell me I had been selected. It really came as a surprise.

“But I‘m really quite touched by it.”

Since she was diagnosed in 2008 Mrs Hunt has undergone a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and is now taking a regular dose of Tamoxifen.

But she has not let the illness, which she has been clear from for more than two years, get in the way of her fundraising efforts.

Last year, along with friends Helen Taylor, Annemarie Smith, and Audra Selley, she enlisted the help of 12 men from her village and convinced them to pose wearing a pink bra in a ‘Chaps for Baps’ naked calendar.

The finished product, along with a sponsored sky dive, has helped Mrs Hunt raise more than £25,000 for Breakthrough.

She said: “I am now training hard for my trek up Kilimanjaro, which I am due to set off on in 12 days.

“I am looking forward to it though.

“I think it will be quite a moment, because it’ll be the four of us doing it together. I have had a lot of help from my friends along the way.

“I am just looking forward to getting up there, sticking two fingers up to cancer, and saying ‘you can’t beat me’.”

To vote, go to inspirationawards.

com/voting/index.php