A mother is kicking cancer and regaining the will to live by practicing karate.

Linda Adley, 52, from Purley, had a rare form of cancer diagnosed in her stomach in 2001. After an operation she thought she had beaten it but it returned.

By that time she had taken up karate and got her brown belt and the martial art turned from a hobby into a lifeline.

Numerous medical studies show the chance of suffering a relapse with cancer lessens significantly if the patient is active.

She is undergoing intensive chemotherapy to reduce the size of a second tumour in her stomach that doctors were unable to remove surgically when it was discovered in 2007.

The retired administrator, who is married to Grant, 53, said being fit has helped her with the intensive treatment.

She said: “Karate is like a signal of being normal and feeling well.

“When I am doing karate I am really focused and forget about the cancer. I feel well again.”

She said it also helps her with the intense anger she gets at times.

“It helps me get rid of aggression, there is a lot of anger involved with cancer and karate is good for working that out.”

The mum-of-two was inspired to try the martial art by her 14-year-old son Jack who was going to lessons when he was eight.

She asked Andrew Michaelides at the United Martial Arts Academy if she was too old to join at the age of 47 and he encouraged her to try it out.

She is on an intensive six-month course of chemotherapy and, although she cannot make sudden movements as she has a tube feeding it into her arm, she is still able to go to classes and practice basic stretches and help junior members.

She said: “When the doctors were telling me about all the things I could not do while on chemotherapy, Andrew was telling me about all the things I could do.

“I don’t do karate because I have cancer, I do it because it makes me feel normal.”