A cancer sufferer will run the North-East Race For Life after completing the event in a wheelchair last year.

Deborah Puttick, of Ryhope, Sunderland, took on the challenge last year only weeks after being diagnosed with cancer.

This year, the mum-of-two is looking forward to running the race after undergoing surgery in her battle against the illness.

Her determination will see her setting off with number one on her shirt.

Ms Puttick, 37, from Ellington Close, Ryhope, was the winner of a competition to wear number one for the event at Herrington Country Park, in Sunderland, on Sunday, June 6, when she will be joined by her daughters, Stephanie, 13, and Danielle, ten.

Ms Puttick entered last summer's Race for Life with friends from her Slimming World class because her sister-in-law, Elizabeth, had survived breast cancer.

But just a month before the race, Ms Puttick was told she had a rare cancer known as soft tissue sarcoma.

Ms Puttick, who is a nurse, began chemotherapy in July last year and left hospital just five days before the Sunderland Race for Life.

Her friends took it in turns to push her wheelchair and she walked the last few yards to collect her medal and immediately vowed to get back on her feet for this year's race.

Last October, Ms Puttick underwent surgery to remove a tumour and doctors said that they were pleased with her progress.

Now she is looking forward to next month's Race for Life, when she will be among hundreds of women walking or running the five-kilometre (three-mile) route.

She is also planning to take part in this year's Great North Run in aid of Cancer Research UK.

To enter the Race for Life, telephone 08705 134314 or log on to the website www.race forlife.org.uk