Susan James is a 56-year-old mother, grandmother and retired career woman from Cheshire.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 following a routine mammogram following a reminder letter from my hospital. When I was diagnosed, I was told that if I’d not been screened at that time that I wouldn’t have stood a chance against the cancer.

In February 1997, I began treatment with chemotherapy, which was followed by five years of tamoxifen therapy.

In May 2002, at the end of my five years tamoxifen treatment, I joined a breast cancer clinical trial. I wanted to help further the understanding of breast cancer and to hopefully reduce my risk of breast cancer recurrence. I felt reassured when the study ended and found out that I’d been taking an aromatase inhibitor.

Now nearly two and a half years later, I feel healthy and positive about life. I truly believe that if I hadn’t taken part in the trial, I wouldn’t be here now.

One of my goals continues to be to live to dance at my grandson’s wedding, so much so that I have written a book about my experiences titled ‘Dancing at my Grandson’s Wedding’, which I hope will bring inspiration to other women with breast cancer.

I maintain an active lifestyle with visits to my son in Ireland four times a year. I’ve also been studying floristry at a local college and get a lot of pleasure through creating beautiful flower arrangements. All I want to do is tell everybody how I’m doing, how I was doing, and how I’ve gotten here.

Susan is currently in remission from an aggressive form of breast cancer that had her fighting for her life nine years ago.