Gina Bridewell is taking part in the Race for Life to help research into cancer, the disease that claimed her father (16311/3)GINA Bridewell will be thinking of her late father Malcolm Maslen when she takes part in the Race for Life for Cancer Research UK at Lydiard Park, Swindon, on Saturday.

Mrs Bridewell, 32, of John Rennie Close, Devizes, is doing the 5km event in memory of her father who died from cancer on December 2 2003, just two months after he was diagnosed. He was 68.

Mr Maslen, a builder and talented darts player, was diagnosed with lung cancer but tests showed it had spread to his kidney, spine and bones.

Mrs Bridewell, who works as a barmaid at the Rising Sun pub in Devizes, said: "We were told that dad's cancer was very aggressive. The doctors offered him chemotherapy and radiotherapy which would have prolonged his life for a few weeks.

"But he said he didn't want any treatment. He said that he had seen me get married and he was happy. When he told me that we cried together."

Mrs Bridewell, her husband Gary, and her elder brother Ricky and sister Belinda, nursed Mr Maslen at his home in Sutton Place.

"It was really hard seeing dad deteriorate," she said.

"Before he had cancer he was 18 stones but he lost so much weight. The only consolation is he didn't suffer too long."

Around the time her father began feeling unwell and shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer, Mrs Bridewell, a mother of two young sons, suffered a cancer scare when she discovered a lump in her breast.

She put off going to see her GP as she could not cope with more heartache on top of helping her father.

She said: "I left it until March the following year.

"The lump was getting bigger and bigger but I put it off because I was dealing with the grief over my dad.

"Looking back it was very silly of me not to go and see my GP straight away. At the time, because of my dad, I thought the lump was cancer and I was so frightened."

After seeing her GP Mrs Bridewell went for scans at the Royal United Hospital, Bath, and ten days later she got the news that the lump was a benign cyst. She was given tablets to treat it and has now been discharged from the hospital.

Mrs Bridewell said: "When I was given the all clear it was a big weight off my shoulders."

Mrs Bridewell went to school in Devizes with Darren Smith whose wife Julia died of cancer in March at the age of 27.

Mrs Bridewell said: "When you know someone who has died of cancer it makes you look at life very differently and you realise how precious everything is."

Mrs Bridewell has raised more than £400 in sponsorship and is doing the race with friend and neighbour Jean Wakefield, 33.

Two Chippenham mums who lost their courageous battles with cancer will be remembered this weekend when their colleagues from Focus DIY run the race.

Workmates Sue Richardson, 43, and Lynne Morris, 50, died within a year of each other.

Mrs Richardson's best mate Gerri Small and Mrs Morris's closest friend Diane Hunt are part of a 14-strong team of women hoping to cross the finish line.