A woman who has seen three members of her extended family diagnosed with breast cancer will be take her place on the start line in the Virgin Money London Marathon today (Sunday) in a bid to raise money to beat the disease.

Cassi Padbury, who lives in Melbourn, has decided to tackle the 26.2 mile course for Breast Cancer Campaign after her mother Vicky, mother-in-law Tina and aunt Isobel were all diagnosed with the disease.

Breast cancer is the UK’s most common cancer with 50,000 new cases diagnosed annually and around 12,000 women and 80 men dying each year.

The 34-year-old, who has done much of her training running around the villages surrounding her home, said: “With three women in the generation above me fighting breast cancer I’m raising funds and awareness so the next generation have improved chances to beat breast cancer for good. Mother’s Day was a really emotional training day and this is a massive challenge but I will keep putting one foot in front of the other on the day because I know that the money I raise will go towards helping the charity fund vital breast cancer research.

“I’d like to do my bit to both raise funds and, I think really importantly, raise awareness. After all, my mum is lucky that she found the lump herself between mammograms and got early treatment.”

To help Cassi reach her fundraising target of £2,000 visit www.justgiving.com/cassi

For more information about the charity visit www.breastcancercampaign.org