'I thought I was safe - then I got a Twitter message that changed my life'

When Joanne Taylor welcomed her baby girl into the world, she couldn't wait to spend quality time bonding with her daughter on maternity leave.

But Joanne, who was 38 at the time, was just a few months into her parental leave when her world was turned upside down.

The mum-of-two, from Saddleworth, had lifted her arm to scratch underneath her right breast when she discovered a small lump.

Joanne, now 55, visited a doctor and was referred for further tests. Tragically, she was diagnosed with breast cancer just two weeks later.

Joanne can recall the moment she was given the earth-shattering news. "It was absolutely devastating," she told the Manchester Evening News. "We had our son and we were happy having a little girl.

"It was a shock, an absolute shock. Not just to me, to the whole family, too. At 38, you just don't expect these things.

"You think it will be something hereditary. You think 'if I haven't got any cancer in my family I'll be okay'."

Joanne underwent gruelling treatment and was declared cancer-free not long after her diagnosis in 2013.

Everything appeared to be fine until seven years later when a friend reached out to her on Twitter, now known as X, saying she had found a lump in her neck and feared she had secondary breast cancer.

Joanne put the phone down and checked her neck to find a lump of her own - discovering four more over the next few days.

The mum-of-two instantly knew something was very wrong. "I used to go for check-ups on a rotating basis with the oncologist," she said. "But those were yearly. Everything was okay.

"The worst fear for anyone with cancer is cancer returning. I remember just as I was about to be diagnosed at the hospital, it was a sliding doors moment - where you're going through