A COURAGEOUS mum - who has twice beaten cancer - has been chosen to launch a £1 million appeal to create a new Macmillan cancer centre in Halton.

Mother-of-two Mrs Janet Fay of Widnes will be featured on front of a leaflet, unveiling plans for the ambitious project at Halton Hospital.

This week, she spoke exclusively to The World about her battle against cancer.

She said: "It is difficult at first to accept you've got it. But I decided to be positive and get on with it. It's no good harping on about it.

"I was lucky, I wasn't very ill with the chemotherapy."

Brave Janet of Bude Road thought she had made a full recovery after being first diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago.

However, she had to go through the treatment all over again after having a relapse three years ago.

With the support of her family and friends, Janet was determined to beat cancer.

After working in the printing industry for 30 years, she has retrained for a new career at GUS HQ in Widnes.

Janet is now keen to help other sufferers conquer their fears.

She has pledged her support for the Macmillan appeal and plans to stage her own fundraising event.

"I think this new centre will be great for cancer patients," said Janet. "At present, the facilities are not very good.

"I can't fault the staff at all, they were brilliant.

"But, when you're going for blood tests and chemotherapy, you have to wait in a passage.

"There is nowhere to go at the moment for privacy. A lot of people are upset, waiting for results.

"It's going to be great to have a special counselling and information centre to turn to for help and information."

Providing privacy, dignity and personal counselling will be a top priority of the new Macmillan centre.

The state-of-the-art development will bring together all the facilities currently fragmented round the hospital.

Architects have designed bright, peaceful rooms with plenty of natural light and a courtyard.

Work will start in September to rip out the former Norton day unit and convert it into a relaxing, modern purpose-built centre.

Tom Southern, Halton Macmillan appeal manager said: "It will have a very relaxing, friendly environment, with plenty of opportunity for privacy."

Building starts next month and the new centre is due to open in 2002.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.