A WOMAN who beat womb cancer after the disease was picked up through screening is spearheading a campaign urging others to follow her example.

Linda Chatburn, 58, from Ambleside Drive in Darwen was diagnosed in July 2006 after she acted upon her second reminder to attend cervical screening.

She is now fit and well, although she needs check-ups every three months, and is fronting Cancer Research UK's new Screening Matters' campaign to save lives by encouraging people across East Lancashire to get themselves checked.

Linda, the chairman of Darwen Cancer Research UK, said: "Whenever women tell me that they're too frightened to attend their smear test, I always tell them about my own experience.

"They sent me a reminder and I was dreading it but when I got the second I made an appointment and went and got it done. I rang the doctor when I got back from my holiday and I was referred to a gynaecologist at the hospital.

"It's possible screening saved my life, I feel very strongly it could have been too late and I wouldn't be here now."

Freelance journalist Linda was referred to a gynaecologist at the Royal Blackburn Hospital and in September her womb was removed. Twenty sessions of radiotherapy treatment followed at the Royal Preston Hospital's Rosemere Cancer Centre.

Linda has been a member of the Darwen branch of Cancer Research UK for nearly 30 years and is especially passionate about encouraging people to attend screening invites as her mother, Jane Davies, died of breast cancer in 1977 aged 56.

The campaign calls on politicians to increase the number of people attending life-saving cancer screening sessions. It is hoped an extra three million people will be screened for bowel, breast and cervical cancer over the next five years.

Linda said: "Early detection plays a huge part in successful treatment and I am so thankful my cancer was caught in time.

"I am lucky that I was invited for cancer screening and that I took up the offer. But we need to make sure that cancer screening is offered to everyone who needs it and that more people take it up."

Maxine Taylor, executive director of policy and communication at Cancer Research UK, said: "Thousands of people like Linda are alive today thanks to breast and cervical cancer screening and the new screening programme for bowel cancer has the potential to save thousands more.

"But current research indicates that at least three million more people could be taking up screening who aren't at present. That means we could be saving many more lives in Lancashire and across the UK."