A teacher from Cobham who had breast cancer diagnosed last year will celebrate her survival by completing a walking marathon.

Emma Johns, 35, discovered a lump in her breast which turned out to be aggressive triple negative breast cancer in September 2012.

While on holiday prior to the diagnosis, Mrs Johns said she could feel the lump growing and knew it was something more serious.

Mrs Johns and her husband Matt went to the Royal Surrey Hospital.

She said: “I had an ultrasound and mammogram and I could tell from the doctor’s expression that something was wrong. I had a horrible sinking feeling.”

A biopsy revealed the aggressive form of breast cancer and Mrs Johns had six cycles of chemotherapy, meaning she lost her long brown hair.

Mrs Johns, a supply teacher, then had a double mastectomy in February this year after finding out she carries the BRCA1 gene fault. Mrs Johns said: “To say it’s been a rollercoaster of a year is something of an understatement.

“One minute I was happily making plans for the future with my husband Matt and the next I was sitting in front of a consultant being told I had cancer.”

To celebrate her survival, Mrs Johns will join 13,000 other people to walk the Shine marathon in aid of Cancer Research UK.

She said: “I’ll be celebrating the fact that life is beautiful and that we should be grateful for the small things. I’m also celebrating my amazing husband who helped me through the tough times with laughter and my silly coloured wigs.”

For more information, visit shinewalk.org.