A year on from a terrifying diagnosis, a Dorchester woman is facing her fears head on to raise money for charity.

Harriet Damen, faced a bleak future when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer at just 29-years-old on Valentine's Day last year.

But after months of treatment she has finally been given the all clear and now wants to give back to those who helped save her life.

Miss Damen said she was "going about life as normal", working as a solicitor and taking care of her four-year-old daughter when she noticed changes to her breast.

"In the January I started getting a thickening of the breast. I didn't have a lump or anything they tell you to look out for so I kind of ignored it," she said.

However, when things still did not feel right a few weeks later, Miss Damen went to see her GP who immediately referred her to Dorset County Hospital.

Within a week she had been diagnosed with grade three, stage three cancer after doctors found 6.5cm tumour which had spread to three of her lymph nodes.

She said the first thing she thought was leaving behind her daughter Ariyah.

"It was a complete shock. Cancer was the last thing I thought it would be. It's just me and my daughter - I was so terrified. All I could think in those weeks after diagnosis was 'she's going to be an orphan, she's not going to have a mum' - that was the scariest thing," Miss Damen said.

Miss Damen immediately began a gruelling treatment programmed which included six months of chemotherapy which finished in June.

On August 1 she had a mastectomy followed by three weeks of radiotherapy in October.

She is now receiving the targeted drug Herceptin every three weeks - a drug Miss Damen says is only available thanks to Cancer Research and only in certain areas of the country.

A bone scan three weeks ago gave Miss Damen a false alarm that the cancer have spread to her bones but a follow up CT scan confirmed she was in the clear and was told she now has "no evidence of disease".

"Now I want to give something back to Cancer Research as thanks to them and our amazing National Health Service, I am still here to raise my daughter. I am hoping through my fundraising, we will be able to help save some more lives like mine," she said.

She added she also wanted to raise awareness and encourage younger people to not ignore signs their bodies are giving them.

"I thought I was too young to get cancer. But when you are younger, the cancers tend to be more aggressive - you don't realise how quick they can be. Don't dismiss the symptoms or put off going to see a doctor - it could be too late," she said.

Last year Miss Damen raised £1,000 by shaving her head and on March 22 she will be tackling the waves head on as she goes white water rafting for charity.

"This is my second chance so all the things I was too frightened to do before, I'm going to do now," she said.

To donate head to fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/harriets-team-14