Judie McCourt is close to raising her target of £2,000 for an appeal which is close to her heart.

And she has still got until the end of the year to realise her dream of hitting the final figure.

She has joined the #walk1000 miles challenge to raise money for the My Wish Charity’s Love Your Nodes appeal and at the same time get fit again after being diagnosed with breast cancer back in November last year and having surgery followed by radiotherapy.

The 55-year-old finance manager has so far walked over 200 miles and has raised £1,780.

She does a two-mile circuit from her workplace in Thetford during her lunch break and also a three-mile loop in the evenings from her home in Horringer Road, Bury St Edmunds.

She told how she had a mammogram back in October last year and was recalled back to the West Suffolk Hospital later that month with surgery taking place in November.

“I just cannot stress how important it is to go for a mammogram as I would not have been due another one for another three years and the lump would have been much bigger,” she said.

“After surgery and radiotherapy I looked for a way to raise money for the amazing team at the West Suffolk, for their Love Your Nodes campaign.

“Not only for me, as it turned out, but on behalf of my mother, who also had surgery for breast cancer two months to the day after I did, and is also under West Suffolk Hospital’s care.”

And she is hoping her mother will also join her on a few of her short walks as she builds up to the 1,000 miles.

Money has been donated by a variety of supporters including the Rose and Crown pub in Bury St Edmunds who have donated funds from their quiz nights.

The My WiSH Charity, which supports the West Suffolk Hospital, launched the Love Your Nodes campaign in July 2016 with the aim of raising £25,000 for a SentiMag machine to help with the removal of lymph nodes for breast cancer patients and just six months after the launch it had reached its target.

However, the campaign hasn’t ended there. Each vial of beads costs £200 so it continues to fundraise to ensure the cost of these are covered to help all the future patients at West Suffolk Hospital.

Judie has set up a Just Giving website and donations can be made by logging onto it at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/judie-mccourt1