A PROBLEM shared is said to be a problem halved. Two friends tell how their bond forged through breast cancer helped them beat the killer disease.

YOU would think they had known each other since childhood.

They laugh at the same time and even finish each other’s sentences.

Yet before they were diagnosed with cancer Anne Hyde, from Bacup, and Gillian Hodgson, from Burnley, had never even met.

Four years on and they are inseparable, forming a bond which they say helped them overcome the killer disease.

The pair have spoken out about their road to recovery for the first time as part of National Breast Cancer Awareness month, which runs throughout October.

Anne and Gillian are just two of around 350 women diagnosed with breast cancer in East Lancashire each year.

“We had an instant connection. The cancer bonded us,” said Anne, of Hoghton Avenue, Bacup.

“I think anyone who has had cancer can understand that.”

The friends first met in 2006 when they were both in Burnley General Hospital having operations to have lumps removed.

Now in remission, the pair meet regularly for lunch and dedicate their spare time to fundraise for cancer related charities; Rossendale Hospice, Relay for Life and Race for Life.

Anne, 57, said: “It was fantastic to have someone to speak to who knew exactly what I was going through.”

Legal secretary Anne was diagnosed with breast cancer after she found a lump in April 2006 while in the shower.

She had suffered a cyst on her breast during her 30s, which was treated by antibiotics, and she initially assumed this lump would be something similar.

But Anne recalled how she was “absolutely floored” when tests showed she had an aggressive form of breast cancer.

Anne underwent an operation to remove the lump in May 2006, which is when she met Gillian, who was on the same ward and had the same operation the day before.

Gillian, found a lump in her breast in March 2006.

Her GP referred her to a specialist because of a family history of the disease, where her fears were confirmed — she too had breast cancer.

“It was really hard telling my family as I was the third member to be diagnosed,” said Gillian, who also underwent a mastectomy as part of her treatment.

“I can remember speaking to Anne before she was due to have her op to try to reassure her.

“She was scared because she had never been in hospital before,” said 51-year-old mother-of-two Gillian.

Anne added: “I couldn’t believe that Gillian had just had the operation. She looked great and it made me feel a lot better.”

Both women underwent chemotherapy which made them lose their hair.

Gillian added: “That was really hard but knowing that Anne was going through the same thing helped me to cope. “When we were at each others house we just took our wigs off!”.

Following the operations the pair would see each other at routine follow-up appointments. Their friendship blossomed and they began to organise appointments which allowed them to meet up at the same time.

Gillian, a laboratory assistant at Royal Blackburn Hospital, added: “We turned the appointments into a bit of a social gathering where we would have lunch and a good catch-up.

We carried on meeting after the treatments ended and are arranging for our husbands to meet now.”

Gillian added: “I think we really helped each other through the tough times.

“We want to encourage more local women to join Cancer Reserach UK’s ‘Fight For Women’s Survival’ campaign.

“We are great friends now but we would never have met if it hadn’t have been for the cancer. "So in our case something good came out of something bad.”

For Women’s Survival contact Anne at b.hyde3@ntlworld.com