A SELFLESS nurse has been raising cash for a cancer charity while battling with the disease herself.

A SELFLESS nurse has been raising cash for a cancer charity while battling with the disease herself.

Lynne Kirby, of Springfield Close in Cheddar, is in remission from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after two courses of chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant and radiotherapy.While in hospital recovering from her treatment she began making cards and has now raised more than £1,000 for charity by selling her products.

Lynne, a former Kings of Wessex pupil, was diagnosed with the disease three years ago after finding a lump on her neck.

She underwent six months of chemotherapy, but before the treatment had finished the tumour grew back.

Lynne had to undergo another six months of the treatment, which left her with a serious lung infection due to an allergic reaction to one of the chemicals in the drugs used, as well as sickness and hair loss.

In January last year she was admitted to hospital for a stem cell transplant, which involves blood cells being taken from the patient’s bone marrow, as well as a course of radiotherapy.

It was during her four-week stay in hospital that she began making cards and she now sells them in Shipham and Cheddar.

She said: “While I was recovering I had nothing to do so I started making cards. I’ve never been arty before and it was a really good type of occupational therapy. It kept me going and gave me something to get up for when everything else was the same old routine.”

Lynne, who works as a nurse in the intensive care unit at Musgrove Hospital in Taunton, started making cards from scraps of wrapping paper and dried flowers she was given as presents while she was recovering.

She has now enticed her parents, Judith and Philip, into her fund-raising scheme. The cards are sold at Lenny’s coffee shop in Shipham and all the money raised is sent to Christie Hospital in Manchester, a specialist cancer hospital where Lynne was treated.

Despite all she has been through Lynne has not let the disease get her down and has now gone back to work part-time.

She said: “I’m feeling great. I’m trying to exercise and get back into work. I’ve had amazing support from my family and friends.

“I hope my experiences make me a better nurse because I know now how it feels to be a patient and how vulnerable and horrible it is.

“I always think something good comes out of difficult situations.”