A scuba-diver from the borough of Epsom and Ewell is taking on a swimming challenge after her sister and mum both battled cancer.

Roisin’s family has been in turmoil three times now; the first was when her sister, Firuze, was diagnosed with an incredibly rare cancer aged just 11 - and told it was terminal.

The second was when their mum, Ladan, was diagnosed with breast cancer, the third was her sister also having breast cancer aged 27, having survived her first illness against the odds.

Talking about her sister’s first illness, when Roisin herself was just 13, she said: “It was very difficult; the Royal Marsden were very good and they offered counselling for siblings - I had depression.

“It was a very difficult time and I didn’t really understand what was going on.

“I was almost bitter in a way, I felt left out of the family and I didn’t really know what I could do to help.”

It even affected how close she felt to her sister, “We definitely drifted when she had her first cancer,” said Roisin.

Now Roisin is determined to swim 5km on April 28 to raise money for Cancer Research UK, who fund research into kinder and more effective treatments.

On her JustGiving page Roisin said: “When my little sister was 11, we found a lump in her shoulder blade.

“She had bone cancer. At this exact moment as I’m writing this, and reading it out to my mother, I have to stop.

“I feel unsettled by how raw this memory still is, how easily it still upsets us both.”

Soon after her sister’s first cancer, their mother found a lump too. She had breast cancer.

“Having gone through it all with her daughter, she was now back at the Royal Marsden, to fight her own cancer with Radiotherapy and loosing her hair to chemotherapy,” said Roisin.

Two years ago, aged 28, her sister found multiple lumps in her breasts.

Roisin said: “She was adamant it was cancer, despite my reassuring her it could be any number of things. I was wrong. She had breast cancer.”

Both her mum and sister have survived, but there is a chance cancer can come back.

The family pulled-together for Firuze’s wedding, where money was donated to Cancer Research instead of traditional gifts.

Roisin is aiming to swim 200 lengths, equivalent to 5km, in two and a half hours.

So far she has raised more than £2,000, to help go to justgiving.com/fundraising/https-www-justgiving-com-fundraising-rowsheenthemachine