A BLOW from a recoiling shotgun during a shooting trip helped save a cancer survivor’s life.

Ann Clayton bruised her breast when her shotgun recoiled into her chest while she was clay pigeon shooting.

The bruise prompted a trip to her GP and a follow-up visit to hospital, where doctors discovered she had a cancerous tumour.

Ann, 53, of Crowborough Road, Southend, was only 39 at the time and didn't think she would live to see her children grow up.

But last week – 14 years on – she proudly attended her son’s wedding in Canada.

Ann said: “When they told me I had cancer, I thought I would die. I prayed to God that I would live to see my children grow up.

“That blow from the shotgun back in 1999 probably saved my life. The professor said the blow didn’t cause the tumour, but it probably brought it to the surface. It was very small and I was too young for regular screening then.”

Ann was diagnosed with a grade three tumour and underwent surgery, followed by six months of gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

After recovering, she decided to fundraise for Cancer Research UK, to give something back for the treatment she received.

She raised £2,000 through the charity's Race For Life last year and shared her story with the crowds before completing last Sunday's Southend race, at Garon Park.

Ann said: “I’m just grateful for research done in the past, which has enabled me to be a survivor. I never say I’m all clear because it can always come back. But this November I will be 15 years free of it.

“I’m so, so lucky that I survived. Now I just want to do something to help anyone going through this dreadful disease.”

Last week, her son Paul, 30, married Natalie, 28, in a fairytale Rocky Mountain wedding in the Canadian resort of Banff.

Ann and her husband John, 56, were there for the big day. She said: “It was absolutely amazing. It’s the happiest ending I could have wished for, to see my son getting married to a lovely girl.”

The area’s next Race For Life takes place at Barleylands, in Billericay, on June 24. Entrants to last week’s Southend race are also being urged to return sponsorship money. Visit www.raceforlife.org or call 0871 6411111.