AFTER fourteen years at the deep end, Dorset’s first operational female firefighter found herself facing the most intense and personal battle of her life.

Karen Adams, who has attended hundreds of 999 calls over the years, recalls the day in July 2008 when it was time for her world to fall apart.

This was the day doctors confirmed, what is surely many women’s worst nightmare, that the lump she’d discovered in her breast was cancer.

After deciding to tell her story to the wider public, this week Karen described her experience as “a real rollercoaster ride full of ups and downs, highs and lows”.

Karen, now 43, took on the cancer with the same grit and determination that saw her succeed in the male-dominated firefighting community.

She would eventually return and rejoin colleagues on the front line.

“Apart from my initial negativity in the first week I was very confident I would overcome this challenge in my life and would make a full recovery.

“I was lucky as I received fantastic support from my family and friends and it was clear from the outset that I would not be facing this battle alone.”

Karen, who is also the Dorset branch secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, spent a significant amount of time in Poole Hospital.

Surgeons performed a bi-lateral mastectomy, the removal of both breasts, an incredibly tough operation to come to terms with physically and emotionally.

They also cut lymph glands from her left arm and took samples from her right.

Then, every three weeks, she underwent six gruelling cycles of chemotherapy, followed by 15 treatments of radiotherapy.

She was also fortunate enough to be prescribed Herceptin – a drug whose availability across the NHS, mainly due to costs, is shrouded in controversy.

Karen is likely to continue taking some form of drug treatment for at least the next five years.

But she said: “After 10 months of treatment I was able to return to work and then following the removal of my portacath (chest port which drugs were administered through) I was able to return to full operational duty six months later.

“This was a fantastic point for me to return to normality and to be able to be part of the firefighting team once again and, in fact, restart my life once more.”

Karen and her team are based at Springbourne fire station.

So why go public? It was the treatment and support she received at Poole Hospital, in particular the Dorset Cancer Centre, and her decision to repay their kindness which prompted Karen to speak out.

“Their support and care was truly amazing and now I feel it is time for me to give something back, so I have decided to raise a substantial amount of money in aid of Dorset Cancer Centre, Breast Cancer Care and Cancer Research to help other sufferers and to fight and help eradicate this terrible disease.”

She is organising a virtual ‘Around the World in Eight Days’ cycle event at the East Dorset Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Parkstone, Poole.

Volunteers will collectively cycle 24,906 miles on 10 static bikes, 24-hours a day for eight days.

Karen said: “My personal goal will be to cycle from Bournemouth to Barcelona, 671 miles.

“I want to reach out to as many people as possible to be part of this event including fellow sufferers, the fire service, the tennis and sailing world and all my family and friends.”

If you want to get involved in the cycle, from May 28 – June 4, or want more information on the even, visit the website aroundtheworldin8days.co.uk