A SOUTH Lakeland café owner who has survived cancer is highlighting Cancer Research UK’s new thought provoking awareness campaign ‘Spot Cancer Sooner’.

Melanie Thorpe, 52, of Natland, is backing the campaign which runs in Cumbria throughout March with a humorous TV ad.

Designed to show how easy it is for people to ignore changes in their body while they get on with their busy lives, the ad shows a ‘lump’ in a road gradually getting bigger while office workers, mums, cyclists and road cleaners seem oblivious to the change and the disruption it causes.

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Eventually the bump becomes so big that people have to walk around it but, despite this, still ignore it.

Finally, in a poignant moment at the end, one person acknowledges its presence and the voiceover says: “It’s easy to ignore something, especially when we’re busy. But spotting cancer sooner could save your life.”

Striking outdoor poster adverts will also feature in prominent locations throughout Cumbria, including train stations, bus stops and shopping centres.

Melanie, who runs The Two Eggcups café in Bowness, with husband Craig, is keen to support the campaign.

The mother-of-three was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2012 less than a week after discovering a lump.

“I was eating pizza when I dropped a piece on my chest," said Melanie. "I went to wipe it away and that’s when I felt a lump. It was totally by chance and I certainly hadn’t noticed it before.”

Melanie phoned her GP surgery the following morning and within 10 minutes had received a phone call with an appointment to see her doctor.

She added: “Although I felt well I went to see my GP to get it checked out. After seeing the doctor I went into town to do some shopping and while I was waiting at a supermarket checkout my phone rang.

“It was the breast unit at Lancaster Hospital who were calling to give me an appointment for a couple of days’ time.”

Melanie attended hospital for a CT scan which revealed that she had two lumps in her breast.

“I didn’t know anything about the other lump, which was slightly higher up, but I could feel it once they told me.

“It meant that just five days after finding a lump in my breast, I was being diagnosed with cancer,” she added. “I am just very, very happy to have such an early diagnosis.”

Melanie, who is married to Craig and has three sons, Adam, 29, Alex, 27, and Niall, 20, had a mastectomy to remove her breast in January 2013, followed immediately by reconstructive surgery. She also had a course of chemotherapy.