When Lorraine Gardner, 47, watched her favourite TV show – The Wright Stuff – in March last year she had no idea she would be appearing on it a year later to thank Matthew personally for forcing her to confront her fears.

Mrs Gardner, a teaching assistant from Lavenham, said: "When I watched the programme I had been suffering from bleeding and was sure it was cervical cancer, but I had been too afraid to do anything.

"At the end of the show Matthew looked at the camera and I felt like he was talking directly to me when he said anyone who suspected they had symptoms should get themselves checked out."

Mrs Gardner, who lives with her son Ben, 18, in Spring Street, said she rang the NHS helpline straight after the show and soon after was undergoing tests at West Suffolk Hospital.

Doctors confirmed her fears when they discovered a tumour.

She said: "I was devastated. When you hear the word cancer you immediately think the worst.

"In June last year I was transferred to Addenbrooke's and underwent an intensive five-week course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but throughout this I still managed to watch The Wright Stuff on the hospital TV."

The debilitating treatment did not shrink the tumour and Mrs Gardner underwent a lifesaving radical hysterectomy.

Ambitions

During this dark period last year she was more concerned with how her death would affect her son, a talented boxer with Olympic ambitions who trains at Sudbury Amateur Boxing Club.

"I confess that I wanted him to hate me just so I could be sure he wouldn't be crying at my grave if the treatment didn't work," she said.

But 12 months later Mrs Gardner, who moved to Lavenham from Dagenham 11 years ago, was watching The Wright Stuff at home after being told she was clear of cancer.

"It was the same type of show about women's cancer that I'd watched a year before and I rang up to tell them my story.

"As I was on the phone Matthew said to the audience there was a woman on the line whose life had been saved by the show and the next thing I knew I was invited to appear," she said.

On Friday Mrs Gardner told her story to the nation when she made her TV debut on the show.

She said: "It was an amazing experience – Matthew really is the most wonderful man you could meet.

"I find it incredible that I have gone from living in fear to sitting next to Matthew Wright on TV a year later in remission from cancer."

She hopes her story will encourage others to take action if they suspect they are suffering from cancer.

"I would urge anyone to pick up the phone and call the NHS helpline or make an appointment with their doctor – that's all it takes – and the decision could save your life."

jonathan.schofield@sudburytoday.co.uk