When Middleton's Shirley Nothard began her battle against breast cancer little did she imagine it would end up with a room full of friends dressed in military uniforms.
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email alerts from Middleton Today.But that's exactly what happened when the office administrator celebrated her 50th birthday with a huge party on the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
More than 150 friends and family packed into the Middleton Conservative Club on Saturday for the bash which had an 'Allo 'Allo war-time fancy dress theme.
* Click here for latest Middleton, Hunslet & Belle Isle news.Shirley told
Middleton Today: "Last year my friend Janet Davies had a party for her 50th and raised £450 for the Candlelighters Appeal.
* Click here for your Community Directory, where you will find basic information on a wide range of local community groups and organisations."I thought I'd raise money for breast cancer. But what started out as a guest list for 50 quickly turned into 150 and then 180 as more and more people said they wanted to come.
"I looked at the nearest weekend to my birthday and read it was the 65th anniversary of D-Day so we decided to make it a war-time fancy dress.
"We raffled off loads of prizes and have raised £2,516 which will be split between the Breast Cancer Campaign and the Surgical Training Fund 4T10 at LGI.
"Lots of people helped make it a great day but I'd particularly like to thank Keith from Grosvenor Catering in Morley who got up at 3.30am on the day to do the food."
For Shirley and husband Wayne, the day was also a personal celebration more than two years after she was first diagnosed with breast cancer.
After six sessions of chemotherapy, Shirley went under the scalpel of
Consultant Mr Phillip Turton to remove her breast in a seven-and-a-half hour operation on August 8, 2007.
She said: "I had a mastectomy and reconstruction done at the same time as well as having my lymph glands removed. I had big, massive boobs so they also had to reduce the size of my other healthy one so they didn't look mismatched.
"Sadly my father-in-law Stan died from cancer after my operation and my sister Margaret, who had lung and liver cancer also passed away. So cancer has been particularly close to us as a family."
She is now back with her colleagues at Excel Publishing in Leeds and is classed as "under surveillance" with medical checks every three months.
