A Derby Evening Telegraph feature writer has marked National Breast Cancer Awareness Month by revealing her own experiences of the disease.

Marion Boden, who has worked at the Telegraph for 16 years, discovered she had breast cancer in June and is currently undergoing treatment.

She has decided to leave her job to enjoy life at home with her family, and has shared her story in a diary-style feature for the paper.

She said: "I thought it would be a nice way of explaining to people in the area who know me why I wasn't going to be around for a while."

Marion, (41), has opted for hormone therapy, rather than chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, because the tumour is oestrogen sensitive.

She wrote: "If they knock out the oestrogen in my body, the tumour could stop growing, shrink even, and they can do this with a monthly injection and a tiny white pill daily.

"If it works (it won't in 35 per cent of cases), and while it works, they wouldn't remove the primary tumour - since it's the best indication of the treatment working.

"I could go for the 'big guns' straight away; the chemo, surgery, radiotherapy option. The survival rates at my stage are the same for both: about 60 per cent to five years. The options are discussed at length. I opted for hormone therapy.

"I have decided to exercise a lot; I've read that it can improve survival rates. Also, I need to protect my bones, since future osteoporosis is a risk with my treatment.

"But what else? Do I go on a dairy-free diet? Do I boil my filtered water and store it in glass bottles? Do I drink green tea by the gallon?

"Everyone seems to have advice. It's hard, this, because only some of it's welcome, and sometimes it's only the way it's offered that grates.

"One woman came to my door evangelising about a book she said would save my life, "if I were vigilant". It irritated me no end. People could tell me to stand on my head for three hours a day and, should I decide not to, I'd be filled with fear and, again, guilt."

Marion also has two daughters, Grace, who is eight, and six-year-old Alex, and she decided to tell them about her illness straightaway, explaining it in terms of the body's building blocks, cells, growing too fast and causing a lump.

She said: "We talked about the treatment I was expecting to have.

"It all went swimmingly, especially when the treatment plan changed to a less dramatic one a week later and I could present that to them as good news.

"Then, one morning, a fellow mum approached me in the playground to ask if Grace was OK. Her daughter had said that Grace had told the class about it and one of the children said 'people die of cancer'.

"I was grateful for the tip-off, which gave me time to think. I didn't want to lie to her, or patronise her.

"In the end, of course, I just told her the truth: I'm not dying of cancer. Simple and true."

At her three-month assessment in September Marion was excited to find both the primary tumour and a tumour under her arm had shrunk by 50 per cent.

Her outlook on life has also changed.

She said: "Cancer brings with it many gifts. I remember one patient writing that she'd never before have taken the time to watch the beauty of sunlight through floating dust. Exactly.

"It has never been easier for me to make decisions, to live life thoroughly every day, to let go of petty miseries.

"I've experienced more bliss since my diagnosis than in the 10 years before. Most of all, it has made me try not to lose today by imagining tomorrow or dwelling on yesterday."