Joy as cancer survivor who beat illness three times is pregnant

Nina Gayden, a Wolverhampton City Council worker, used to hold her terrified sister in her arms at night because the teenager 'didn't want to die alone' after being diagnosed with cancer.

Alannah Roberts was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the age of 15 after suffering months of unexplained tiredness and weight loss.

By the time Alannah was diagnosed she was too weak to walk to the end of the drive at the family home in Dudley and too tired to go to school.

Immediate treatment was so urgent that doctors were unable to carry out the normal procedure of freezing her eggs so she could have children in later life.

Despite periods of remission the cancer returned three times until, in 2010, she underwent total body radiation and received a stem cell transplant with her brother Daniel as donor.

Alannah recovered, and is now pregnant. The baby is due in October.

The two sisters will take to the stage at Dudley Race for Life at Himley Hall tomorrow to share their inspiring story with the crowd before the run.

Nina, of Stourbridge, joins the pink army to run the five kilometre course in celebration of Alannah.

Nina said: "Every single person that has done Race for Life has played a part in saving my sister's life.

"When Alannah's cancer returned for the third time in 2010 the doctors told us something which demonstrated the importance of research.

"Wind the clock back less than ten years and she would have had very little chance of survival but, because of the funding from such events as Race for Life, amazing developments in treatment meant she had a chance.

"Without this we would have lost her I'm sure."

Alannah, who now lives in Stourbridge with husband Andy and works for Virgin Media, in Birmingham, was first diagnosed in 2002 while studying for her GCSEs.

She was again studying for a qualification in media studies at Stourbridge College when she relapsed in 2005 at the age of 18.

"The second diagnosis came within weeks of her getting the all clear" said Nina.

"We were all devastated, but Alannah refused to let it stand in her way.

"She had more chemotherapy and stem cell therapy, kicked cancer's butt, and went off to university.

"She made the most of her cancer free life, but it was short-lived and I will never forget the moment she rang, when I was sitting in my conservatory planning my wedding, and told me she had found another lump.

"When we knew it was back for the third time we thought there was no way her body could fight it again. But she went all guns blazing into a gruelling course of treatment as it was her only chance of survival."

Alannah has now been cancer free for four years.