Back off CANCER!

Told she had only five years to live, Esther Shoebridge made a decision.

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Many women see getting older as a chance to sit back and relax - but not me. After taking early retirement, there was nothing I loved more than doing a high-impact kick-boxing class at my local gym, or running round the garden and splashing in the pool with my four young grandchildren on holiday. But one day, all of that changed.

It was the beginning of 2021 when I first felt something wasn't right. It was nothing I could put my finger on - just a crick in my neck and feeling slightly more tired and weak than usual after the gym.

My husband Philip, then 66, thought I was overdoing it and that I needed to rest more.

But I enjoyed keeping busy. As well as my regular gym classes and daily walks, I also loved frequent trips to Florida to visit my daughter Grace, then 31, and her four children, twins Oxford and Espen, nine, Lula, seven, and six-month-old Stormi.

But as time wore on I began to feel worse.

I developed a raging thirst that I couldn't

seem to quench, and terrible insomnia. The pain in my neck was awful, and some days I struggled to lift shopping bags or even the kettle to make a cup of tea. But, not one to make a fuss, I took the painkillers my doctor prescribed and carried on.

Then one day, in January 2021, I was at home alone when the skin on my entire body went completely numb. I tried nipping my arm, then my leg, and couldn't feel anything.

Terrified, I called my mum Cilla, then 79, for help, and she drove me straight to A&E at Hull Royal Infirmary. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, she could only drop me off and I went in on my own.

By then, the pain in my neck was so bad I had to rest my head against the wall as I waited to be seen.