Sarah Harding supported by celebrity pals including Nadine Coyle and Cheryl as she reveals breast cancer battle

While most women can get breast cancer, it is most common in women who are over the age of 50.

According to Cancer Research UK, breast cancer starts in the breast tissue.

Breast cancer develops when abnormal cells in the breast begin to grow and divide in an uncontrolled way and eventually form a growth.

Most invasive breast cancers are found in the upper-outer quadrant of the breast.

If it’s not diagnosed and treated it can move through the lymph or blood vessels to other areas of the body.

Each year in the UK there are around 55,200 new breast cancer cases.

This equates to around 150 new cases a day.

It also accounts for 15 per cent of all new cancer cases each year.

If the cancer is diagnosed at its earliest stage then 98 per cent of people will survive the disease for five years or more.

If it is diagnosed at the latest stage, then just 26 per cent of people survive for five years or more.

What are the four stages of breast cancer?

Stage one: The cancer is small and only in the breast tissue - but can also be found in lymph nodes close to the breast.

Stage two: The cancer is either in the breast or in the nearby lymph nodes or both.

Stage three: The cancer has spread from the breast to the lymph nodes or the skin of the breast or the chest wall.

Stage four: The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

What are the signs?

• A lump in the breast or armpit
• Changes in the positioning of the nipple
• Nipples leaking in women who have not had children
• Skin changes

SARAH sharing her shocking news with the world was a bloody brave thing to do.

I hope it has served as a good reminder to keep checking our boobs because, guess what, this disease really can happen to anyone.

I too was told my cancer had spread to other parts of my body. I was 23. That was over 11 years ago.

So Sarah, if you’re reading this, know there are so many of us living good, full lives with this disease, sometimes long after diagnosis.

All I wanted when I was first diagnosed was to know people like me existed.

That secondary, advanced, stage 4 (they all mean the same thing!) didn’t mean imminent death — and now I am one of those people.

Whether that brings you or Sarah comfort, I don’t know — but I hope it does.

I was glad to read she’s had great support from her family already.

It’s so important to have people around you who lift your spirits, make you food, watch crap telly or simply sit in silence with you — or, at least, that’s what I needed.

Hi everyone,I hope you are all keeping safe and well during these uncertain times.

I’ve not posted on here for so long, thank you to everyone who has reached out to check in on me, it really does mean a lot.

I feel now is the right time to share what’s been going on. There’s no easy way to say this and actually it doesn’t even feel real writing this, but here goes.

Earlier this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer and a couple of weeks ago I received the devastating news that the cancer has advanced to other parts of my body.

I’m currently undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions and I am fighting as hard as I possibly can.

I understand this might be shocking to read on social media and that really isn’t my intention.

But last week it was mentioned online that I had been seen in hospital, so I feel now is the time to let people know what’s going on and this is the best way I can think of to do so.

My amazing mum, family and close friends are helping me through this, and I want to say a thank you to the wonderful NHS doctors and nurses who have been and continue to be heroes.

I am doing my very best to keep positive and will keep you updated here with how I’m getting on.

In the meantime I hope you’ll all understand and respect my request for privacy during this difficult time.

Sending you all so much love….xx

ABOUT 55,000 UK women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer, of whom roughly one in ten is aged under 40.

Cancers in younger patients tend to be more aggressive types, such as triple negative or HER2+. They are likely to be diagnosed late as patients are too young for screening.

Prof Andrew Wardley, of The University of Manchester, said drugs for triple negative cases were being tested.

He added new drugs meant life expectancy for HER2+ had “gone from being the worst to one of the best”.