A DORCHESTER woman will be running the Race for Life for her best friend.

Leanne Carter, 30, will be joining more than 1,600 women running in tomorrow’s event.

She will be running for her best friend Rebecca Stanton, 31, from Weymouth, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

The best friends met when they started working together in 2008. They want to raise awareness and are urging women to make sure they check themselves regularly.

Leanne said she wanted to do the event for her best friend and raise money for Cancer Research UK, she said: “I just wanted to make a difference.”

She said: “Rebecca’s such an incredible person.”

Leanne added: “Her strength and humour she’s shown all the way through have been amazing. She’s just so strong.”

Rebecca is mum to Joseph, two, Rosie, one, and was 35 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had to have baby Annabelle early on April 3 by C-section so that she could start chemotheraphy.

She had her second round of chemo this week and will be at tomorrow’s event cheering Leanne on.

Rebecca said she had a cyst in her other breast a year before so when she found a lump she didn’t think much of it, as breasts change during pregnancy and thought it was probably just another cyst or a blocked milk duct.

She said: “I wasn’t going to go to the doctor, but thank God I did.”

She said she wanted to raise awareness.

She said: “Check yourself regularly. It can happen to anyone at any age.

“Go to the doctors if you find a lump, straight away. Don’t leave it – go.”

Baby Annabelle is now six weeks old and eating and sleeping well.

Rebecca said her family and friends had been ‘amazing’ and so supportive, and she paid tribute to her husband Ben, saying: “He’s been so brilliant.”

The Breast Care Team at Dorset County Hospital had been really supportive, Rebecca added.

The friends said they had been overwhelmed by the donations received on Leanne’s Just Giving page so far. Leanne said she originally hoped to raise £150, but currently more than £1,300 has been donated.

n To donate to Leanne’s Just Giving Page click here or text BFFS99.

n To find out more about Cancer Research UK click here.