Two staff members from a Tenby school have revealed how they were diagnosed with breast cancer within weeks of each other.

Colleagues Sue Hamer and Judi Simpson, who work at Greenhill School, were given the news earlier this year and both quickly underwent lumpectomy operations.

Ms Hamer is still in the middle of months of chemotherapy treatment which has left her exhausted, while Ms Simpson is currently undergoing radiotherapy.

But this month, both completed a personal challenge by finishing the Cancer Research UK 10K race at Margam Park.

Mother-of-two Ms Hamer, 41, went in for surgery just days after being diagnosed with breast cancer in May.

Ms Hamer, who lives in Begelly, works at the school as a learning support teaching assistant and also liaises with the local gypsy community.

And Ms Simpson, who teaches pupils with special needs and dyslexia, as well as being the school's learning skills manager, was diagnosed the following month after the cancer was picked up on a mammogram.

The 55-year-old mother-of-three, who lives in Saundersfoot, added it was fitting to have completed the 10K race in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. "I am incredibly proud of us," she said.

"I was diagnosed a few weeks after Sue and I don't know where I would have been without her.

"We have been able to support each other - no one knows what I have been going through like she did. "We both feel that every pound donated to cancer charities is making a difference and we wanted to do our bit to raise more and to say thank you." Ms Simpson, whose own mother had breast cancer, is currently having radiotherapy treatment every day at Swansea's Singleton Hospital.

"I am very lucky that my cancer was picked up early. I do check myself and I hadn't perceived a lump, but I got an invitation to screening and I went along and it was picked up on the mammogram." The two colleagues were accompanied around the 10k course by their friend Denise Stanley, while Ms Hamer's daughter Emily, 16, also ran to raise money for Cancer Research UK's scientific research to help prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

Ms Hamer, who has been treated at Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, said she felt "overjoyed and a bit stiff" after completing the course in under two hours. "I feel it was a turning point," she said, adding that she would not have been able to complete it without the help of Emily, Judi and Denise. "I have another six weeks left of chemo and I'm dreading it. I have found it really tough.

"More than anything, it is the tiredness - it has got the better of me.

"But as I lay in the bath after the race, I thought 'If I could do this 10K, I can get through it'."

Judith Jones, assistant head at Greenhill School, said staff had been upset and shocked at the news about their colleagues earlier in the year.

"They are both hard-working and conscientious people and we wish them all the best in their treatments," she said.

"Their colleagues are all supporting them and we hope to have them back with us soon."

Each year 44,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and eight out of 10 cases are diagnosed in women over 50.

Dr. Lesley Walker, cancer information director at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's really important to make sure you're breast aware, know what's normal for you and attend screening when invited, as early detection can increase your chances of survival. Keeping a healthy body weight and limiting alcohol can also reduce your breast cancer risk."

Anyone affected by cancer can contact Cancer Research UK's cancer information nurses on 0808 800 4040 (freephone) or visit the charity's patient information website http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk">www.cancerhelp.org.uk