When Bridget Foley and her eight-year-old daughter, Hannah, take part in Cancer Research UK's Stride for Life next month, it will be an emotional milestone for the pair.

For when Bridget was 28-weeks pregnant with Hannah she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was forced to have a mastectomy followed by a gruelling course of chemotherapy.

Now, eight years on, mother and daughter will celebrate their amazing story of hope by taking part in the sponsored walk in Hyde Park on October 24 during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which aims to raise £100,000 for research into breast cancer.

She said: "Hannah's eighth birthday is on October 25, so we're going to do the walk together in celebration of life. She is just getting to the age where she understands what happened to me during pregnancy and how lucky we both are to be alive."

When Bridget, a 41-year-old mum-of-two from Links View Road, Shirley, found a lump in her breast in 1996 she assumed it was pregnancy-related.

However, a biopsy revealed a particularly aggressive tumour growing in her left breast and she found herself having a mastectomy while pregnant and undergoing a course of chemotherapy just days after Hannah was born.

Bridget said: "My mind started racing. My primary concern was that I might lose the baby. But then secondary to that was a feeling that I might not survive myself.

"In a way, being pregnant made it a little easier to deal with because my number one priority was my baby's health and my own welfare was secondary.

"It didn't hit me until months later what had I had actually been through.

"Hannah was delivered six weeks prematurely by Caesarean section and she was a healthy six pounds. Five days later I was transferred from Mayday to the Royal Marsden Hospital to begin a six-month course of chemotherapy."

Chemotherapy was followed by radiotherapy and a year later Bridget was given the all clear. She even had reconstructive surgery on her breast.

"The walk itself will be very emotional for us both. I'm sure I will be in floods of tears at some point but I hope that by telling my story it will help raise money for research and give other people hope."

To join Bridget and Hannah on Cancer Research UK's Stride for Life walk, ring 08701 602040 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org/makingstrides.

To sponsor them, contact the newsroom on 020 8774 6590.