A nurse was diagnosed with cervical and breast cancer at just 33 despite having no signs or symptoms and being up to date on smear tests.
Claire Flatt was seemingly fit and healthy when the devastating diagnoses came just two weeks apart in the summer of 2017.
Now 35, the cancer survivor has undergone chemotherapy, radiotherapy and multiple surgeries including a double mastectomy, and this July will have her ovaries removed in another preventative operation.
After everything she has been through, Claire, from Birmingham, rejects any notion that she is a "victim" and wants to show that people can "live well with cancer".
She is running the 26.2-mile London Marathon, her first marathon, this weekend, just nine months on from her last round of chemo with radiotherapy and an operation in between.
How to know when your body is saying you have breast cancer
The registered nurse and nurse lecturer at Birmingham City Hospital told Mirror Online: "The goal is just to get to the end in one piece.
"To go from chemo to a marathon in nine months, to even get to the start line is incredible."
She hopes her story shows others that people can beat cancer and thrive.
Claire, who is running with her husband Ian, 40, her brother-in-law Richard and friend James, said: "I hope my story can inspire others to get up and get out there.
Simple steps you can take to help prevent eight common health conditions
"You can achieve anything you put your mind to."
In the summer of 2017, Claire was just 33 when she was diagnosed with both stage 2b cervical and two weeks later stage 3 breast cancer, despite having no symptoms and being up to date on smear tests.
She had to undergo radiotherapy, chemotherapy, brachytherapy and several operations.
During her treatment both she and her sister Sarah found out they were BRACA2 positive and needed preventative mastectomies.
Health experts and doctors reveal the pills and supplements they take
Claire has had both of her breasts removed and a few weeks after the marathon on April 28 will undergo another preventative operation to have her ovaries removed.
She hopes to undergo breast reconstruction next year.
She said: "I have had a double mastectomy, so having my ovaries out at this point... I will be glad for the operations to be done and to look forward to my life.
"I am looking forward to closing this chapter and moving forward.
"I’m already in menopause, I’m already infertile. Having my ovaries out at this point is kind of a means to an end."
Claire had planned to run the marathon with Sarah, 31, but her sister's mastectomy was delayed and she will run next year's marathon instead.
It means Claire will be running this year's event for the both of them, less than two years after she was diagnosed with cancer in August 2017.
She recalled: "I came home from work one day and felt a bit odd, and that evening I started bleeding.
"I went to the GP the next morning and ended up in an ambulance and was taken to hospital."
A biopsy was done and a week later she found out she had cervical cancer.
Further scans revealed she also had breast cancer, a disease that her aunt had been diagnosed with previously.
Claire, who started treatment shortly after the diagnoses, said: "It was a crazy couple of weeks.
"Prior to that I had IVF in April, and our plan was to recommence IVF in October [of 2017].
"At that point I was fit, healthy and hoping to start a family.
"It was absolutely devastating. Life as I knew it was completely different."
The treatment she received for cervical cancer put her into early menopause and made her infertile.
Side effects during the months of treatment included crippling fatigue, sickness, weight loss, hair loss and radiation burns.
In July last year, Claire found that running made her feel physically healthier and energised, and helped with her mental health.
She would have chemo on Thursdays and join a group for a park run on Saturdays, and pushed herself to be active even though the treatments left her feeling fatigued.
In December last year - a month after doctors told her she was cancer free - she ran her first 5K without stopping, and has been building up her mileage in preparation for the marathon.
Her last run was 20 miles, and she is committed to crossing the finish line in London.
She said: "I’m definitely ready and I’ve done the best that I can. I will get around there, even if I have to crawl."
Despite everything she was going through two years ago and has been through since, Claire hasn't lost her positive outlook.
Keeping busy and staying positive helped her cope.
When she was initially discharged from hospital she got an eight-week-old black Labrador dog, which she named Pickle "because I was in a pickle".
She said: "'Concentrate on the day in front of you' was the advice I was given. This time last year there was no way I would have imagined that I would be running the London Marathon.
"The most important thing to me is getting exercise and getting out of the house, and living normally.
"I have tried to live the best I can with cancer. I have continued as normal."
During treatment she launched #claireschallenge asking people to go out and raise money for cancer charities including Macmillan.
Eighteen months later, more than £30,000 has been raised through more than 50 challenges, from running competitions and cake sales to comedy nights and dog shows.
One person even raised money by going vegan for a week.
Her supportive family and friends and even strangers have contributed.
Claire has gone back to work full-time as a nurse lecturer, and tells her story to inspire others and raise awareness about cervical and breast cancer.
She said she was one of the "unlucky" ones diagnosed with cervical cancer despite her smears being up to date, and breast cancer wasn't on her radar before the diagnosis.
She said: "I don’t see myself as a victim at all.
"There are a lot of people who come out the other side and live well with cancer. I hope that I portray that story and that image, and give people hope."
Offering advice to other women, she said: "Seventy-five per cent of cervical cancers can be prevented through smears
"I was in the 25 per cent. I was unlucky.
"Don't delay [getting a smear] if you can protect yourself.
"The treatment is barbaric."
She added: "Breast cancer wasn’t something on my radar. It wasn’t something that i thought about.
"You associate breast cancer with older women. I didn’t check often and that would be my advice, to check your boobs regularly."
Dr Rosie Loftus, Macmillan Chief Medical Officer, said: "Each year, around 3,200 people are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the UK, which is a cancer that can affect all ages.
"Cervical cancer develops very slowly from abnormal cell changes in the cervix and unfortunately these changes, especially in very early-stage cervical cancer, often don’t show any symptoms.
"We strongly recommend that women keep up to date with their cervical screening tests, for the opportunity to identify abnormalities that can be monitored or treated before developing into cervical cancer.
"We also encourage women to get in touch with our confidential support line with any concerns or questions around cervical cancer symptoms. "
Dr Loftus added: "Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK with an average of 150 cases diagnosed every day, but due to early diagnosis and treatment survival rates for breast cancer are generally high, with around 96 per cent of women in England surviving their cancer at least one year after diagnosis.
"While most breast lumps aren’t cancerous, a lump or thickening in the breast are the most common symptoms to look out for and it is important to get anything unusual checked out by your GP."
Click here to donate to #claireschallenge in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.
