A COURAGEOUS woman who is battling cancer will complete a gruelling 32-mile walk just weeks after finishing a course of radiotherapy.

Helen Cleaver hopes her walk between the Haven in Hereford and Worcestershire Royal Hospital will not only raise money for two charities, including the Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign, but will inspire other women not to give in.

The 49-year-old dragon boater of Little Witley, who has raced for Great Britain, hopes to complete the walk on Friday and Saturday raising at least £1,000 for the campaign.

She hopes to raise a second £1,000 for the Haven in Hereford, which is a charity committed to improving the lives of people affected by breast cancer by providing services like nutritional advice and counselling for patients and their families.

Mrs Cleaver will complete the walk with a group of friends and family, including husband Martin, all of whom will wear pink tabards as they head through the countryside. She said: “I hope it inspires other women and shows them there is life after breast cancer and even after secondary cancer.

“I was in my hospital bed and I suddenly thought about walking between the two units which was a moment of real madness. There is life after breast cancer and when I had the diagnosis in 2009 they gave me a one in four chance of surviving a year.”

It is not the first time Mrs Cleaver has shown her mettle – she raced for the Great Britain senior ladies dragon boat team, helping her team win silver and bronze in the European Championships in August last year, just five days before she had an operation to remove her lymph nodes. She was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 when she had a mastectomy but in 2009 she also had her lymph nodes removed when the cancer spread.

Mrs Cleaver, who paddles for the Worcester Dragons and helped form Busters, a team of dragon boaters made up of women who have battled breast cancer, said breast care clinics at Worcestershire Royal were too spread out, which is why she is supporting the new £2.5 million breast unit at 220 Newtown Road, near the hospital.

Your Worcester News adopted the campaign before its launch last October and will continue to support it until the new unit is opened.

To support Mrs Cleaver visit justgiving.com/Helen CleaverWorcestershire.