A woman who fought cancer 25 years ago as a three-year-old is today working in the hospital where she underwent her life-saving treatment.

And Seacroft Hospital at Leeds, where Sue Brookes is a staff nurse is also where she met her doctor husband Christopher.

The couple were recently married at St Mark's Church, Utley, attended by the doctor who has overseen her follow-up treatment for more than 20 years.

Back in 1975 Sue, then Sue Padgett and living in Allerton, Bradford, underwent 12 months of intensive chaemo-therapy treatment at Seacroft. She had been diagnosed with a huge tumour on her kidney in March of that year, and doctors gave her only a slim chance of survival.

It was the beginning of a year-long nightmare for Sue and her mum Shirley, who at the time lived in Allerton and now lives in Riddlesden with Sue's adoptive father Trevor.

Today Sue, 28, remembers nothing of her ordeal - only the regular trips to Leeds for her follow-up treatment. She recalls nothing of the radium treatment to shrink the growth or the later discovery that the cancer had spread to her stomach and lungs. And she has no memory of the treatment for the huge blood clot in her body's main artery.

"I don't remember anything of the surgery or chaemotherapy - only the follow-up treatment," she says. "I think parents facing the same position today should take heart that if their children are young they probably won't remember what happened. I'm also living proof that you can live a full and happy life after cancer."

Sue, who trained at Leeds College of Health, always wanted to be a nurse. "It's obvious my treatment didn't put me off," she says. "I don't know whether being in hospital so young had any influence but for as long as I can remember I've always wanted to be a nurse."

Sue's mum Shirley is immensely proud of her daughter and her achievements. "She is a well balanced and has grown into a lovely girl and a very caring nurse," Shirley says. "When she was ill it was an extremely stressful time. We were told the odds were stacked against her and when she got the blood clot people thought she would not come out of hospital."

She hopes Sue's story will bring hope to other families facing the same ordeal today.

Mrs Leach pays special praise to the Candlelighters group, the charity set up in the early 1970s to support families of children with cancer

Christopher, 26, who is training to be a GP at Dewsbury hospital, learned about Sue's past soon after meeting her on the ward at Seacroft where she worked. "I'm very proud of her," he says. "We are leading a full and happy life."

The doctor who has been overseeing Sue's follow-up treatment for more than 20 years is Dr Hazel Galvin, who was invited to the couple's wedding. "Sue's cancer was very aggressive, but she has made a brilliant recovery," she says. "She is fit and well and we are optimistic of a full and normal life for her. She is an example of what can be achieved."

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