A CANCER sufferer is all set to walk down the aisle after beating the disease.

Pauline Johnson, 52, will tie the know with fiance Andy Chipperfield, 46, at a ceremony at the Kursaal in Southend, on Sunday.

She has battled breast cancer after discovering a lump in January, but after two operations, a round of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she has been given the all clear.

She will enjoy her big day thanks to advice she got from a unique project at Southend Hospital.

The hospital set up its £650,000 purpose-built cancer information and support centre within the hospital grounds six months ago.

Pauline, of Martock Avenue, Southend, attended one of the unit’s Look Good Feel Good workshops and discovered how to cope with losing her hair.

She said: “The cancer came out of the blue.

I had operations to remove a lump and lymph nodes and then I started chemotherapy in March.

I lost my hair and eyelashes, but the workshop really cheered me up.

“They give you a big bag of makeup and the care people give you there is wonderful.

“You can talk to them and they understand and the other people who go all have some sort of cancer.

They show you how to put makeup on so that you still look good even without eyelashes.”

The unit is run as a partnership between Macmillan Cancer Support and Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Since February the team of staff and volunteers has been offering anybody affected by cancer - including patients, their relatives, carers and professionals - access to high quality information.

It also offers one-to-one support for people affected by cancer, which has been well received by patients and carers.

Friederike Englund, Macmillan information and support manager, said: “The first six months for this service have been tremendous. We have achieved more than I could ever have envisaged.

“None of the services we provide, however, would be possible without the dedication and support of our fantastic band of volunteers.

“We have 21 volunteers who give up their time to work with patients and take outreach sessions to clinics and wards. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their time and commitment which has made this first six months so successful.”

In addition to hosting two support groups, the service has just established its own support group called Elevenses, which will meeting monthly and is open to anybody affected by cancer.

Pauline said: “I am just looking forward to the future now. I have a follow up in June, but I’m pretty sure that will be all clear. The MacMillan nurses really helped me through it all. I came away from there feeling like a princess.

The Macmillan Information and Support centre is located on the ground floor of the Hospital’s tower block building and is open Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.