EVERY day in the UK 11 people are diagnosed with NeuroEndocrine cancer.

And if your first thought was that you've never heard of it, spare a thought for those who have it, whose own doctors may even be in the same position and because it's so difficult to diagnose.

Canford Heath mum Sharon Angwin only discovered she had NET cancer after a gruelling series of health mishaps and disasters. "Basically, it is a slow growing cancer of the hormonal system," she says. "It can start almost anywhere in the body and because it can produce so many different symptoms, it can be very difficult to diagnose. I had so many varied symptoms, that I would never have connected together, yet I knew there was something wrong."

Sharon's story started in 2012 when she noticed she'd lost weight. "It felt good because I wasn't even trying," she says. "I lost one stone, then two and people started noticing. I said I'd cut down on food and changed my diet which I had, a bit, but deep down, I knew that I wasn’t doing enough to create this sort of loss."

Her doctor told her it was nothing to worry about but during autumn 2015 she started feeling unwell, with stomach aches and was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome.

"He gave me some tablets which didn't work but there was a lot going on at home, my marriage was breaking down and then my Dad was taken into hospital."

Following her father's death and her husband leaving home, Sharon started dating and took burlesque dancing sessions.

"Life felt good but I noticed little things; my ankles were a bit swollen and over a period of six weeks I put on about three stone, my tummy was so swollen, I could only just get behind the steering wheel to drive and I felt exhausted," she says.

Her doctor changed her IBS tablets but her legs continued to swell and after seeing a different doctor was sent for blood tests and a scan. She was told she had no ovarian cancer but there was a huge problem with her heart, needing valve repair and replacement.

Even after her heart operation in which she ended up in an induced coma with a three-month recovery, Sharon was not clear of the fear of cancer which she came to realise had also caused her heart problems.

"I had a follow up appointment with the cardiologist and mentioned that I had a lump in my tummy, so he arranged for me to have a CT scan," she says. This scan picked up three shadows.

"I was then referred to an oncologist and neuroendocrine tumours were mentioned. He told me the shadow on my liver was metastatic and they were pretty certain that I had a primary tumour in my small bowel.

"The doctor explained that because it had spread, it was incurable, but it was treatable," she says. "Like most people, I had never heard of this particular cancer and I found it very isolating. It seems that even a lot of doctors and other health professionals have never heard of it either, although that is starting to change now, thankfully."

Throughout her care Sharon has had the support of her 'fantastic' employer at LV and of her twins, Luke and Chloe, 24. She's the Dorset representative for PLANETS, the Southampton-based charity which looks after people who have pancreatic, liver or neuroendocrine cancer, and attended a reception at the Houses of Parliament in the autumn, to raise awareness of rarer cancers with MPs.

"I am telling my story because I want to make people more aware of Neuroendocrine tumours - if people don't know about them, they won't know what to look out for," she says. "I realise now I probably had this for 10 or 12 years before I was diagnosed."

"It was always thought this was a rare cancer but with better diagnostic technology and greater awareness people are starting to realise that it isn't as rare as they first thought, it is just that they are getting better at diagnosing it."

*planetscharity.org