A breast cancer survivor from Wisbech has dropped eight dress sizes and lost nearly 11 stone in five years.

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Avril Rapley joined the Wisbech Slimming World group in 2015, having gained weight following a stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis and six months of chemotherapy plus radium.

She said: “I knew I had to change my lifestyle and, being hormone-related, my oncologist advised losing weight.

“They did this as fat produces oestrogen and, the more oestrogen you have, the more chance of my cancer returning.”

With those words at the back of her mind ever since, Avril says that joining Slimming World has “certainly saved my life, because I want to be around for as long as possible.”

Cambs Times: Breast cancer survivor Avril Rapley, who attends the Wisbech Slimming World group, dropped eight dress sizes and lost nearly 11 stone in five years.Breast cancer survivor Avril Rapley, who attends the Wisbech Slimming World group, dropped eight dress sizes and lost nearly 11 stone in five years. (Image: SLIMMING WORLD)

Having lost 10 stone 10lb and reached her target weight in Christmas 2019, and kept it off since, Avril says she enjoys exercising, especially walking.

“I never sit still,” she said; “my feet no longer give me pain - even when I walked 26 miles doing ‘the Shine’ for charity”.

Avril added that her husband and family are pleased with the weight loss, too, as they would previously worry about her health.

The Wisbech Slimming World group that Avril attends are run by Tina, whose groups are held on Mondays AM and PM at The Queen Mary Centre.

Call 07798 894639 for more information.