A MENSTON woman’s cancer treatment has been captured in a powerful national campaign.

Christine Metcalfe features in a series of posters displayed around the country as she is shown undergoing radiotherapy treatment for oropharyngeal cancer.

Cancer Research UK's Right Now campaign shows real patients photographed during treatment. The posters are displayed on billboards in more than 600 locations until Sunday.

Christine, 67, who runs a printing business with husband, Stephen, 62, knows from personal experience how crucial new discoveries and breakthroughs are.

Christine was diagnosed with oropharyngeal – a type of mouth cancer – four years after Stephen was diagnosed with prostrate cancer.

Her ordeal began in August last year when Christine, who has two daughters and one granddaughter, noticed a lump on her neck. After scans, she was given the devastating news it was cancer.

She said: "It was a difficult moment hearing the doctor say exactly what was wrong. It was just awful for us to hear the words 'you have cancer' again.

"It was then extremely difficult for us breaking the news to our two daughters that cancer had hit our family again."

She started daily radiotherapy in October, and is photographed undergoing one of 35 sessions, wearing a mask specially moulded to her head and shoulders to enable precision accuracy.

"At first I was afraid of radiotherapy, and I had a bit of a panic attack when the mask was put on me for the first time," she added.

"But after a while, I didn’t mind the mask too much. I got in the habit of lying there, closing my eyes and listening to the music that is played in the room. I tried to imagine I was somewhere nice, like a spa."

Christine then had three cycles of chemotherapy and now has regular check-ups.

She said: "My experience means I understand all too clearly why Cancer Research UK’s work is so important.

"I am so grateful to those people before me have taken part in trials, which have helped me with the treatment I’ve had. I am also so grateful that Stephen is able to live with his cancer thanks to the hormone treatment he will continue to have for the foreseeable future. Because Stephen’s cancer had already spread to his bones, his consultant had told us that if he had been diagnosed ten years earlier, there wouldn’t have been any treatments like this available, so they wouldn’t have been able to do anything for him."

"I’m urging people across Yorkshire to take action right now to help fund vital research to help beat this devastating disease."

Nicki Embleton, Cancer Research UK spokesperson for Yorkshire, said: "We want to inspire people in Yorkshire to see the campaign and feel motivated to act - right now - to help patients just like Christine and her husband Stephen. The actions people take today will make a real difference to men, women and children fighting cancer both now and in the future."

Visit www.cruk.org for further details.