AS she crossed the finish line, the crowd screaming her name, she felt pure elation. It was the second year Lizzie Payne had won the 5k Winchester Race for Life.

Her mum Frances and a group of women also took part.

Their aim: to help find a cure for cancer.

Just one year later Lizzie’s race number 647 has landed on the doormat – and she has vowed to win again.

But this year her thoughts will focus on her mum.

Cruelly, in September the 47-year-old was told she had breast cancer – just a day before her daughter’s 13th birthday.

The Southampton Athletics Club member, Lizzie, who trains for four-and-a-half hours a week, said: “I’ll be more determined than ever to win.

“When you die in running you think ‘oh my God my legs are hurting so much’, you’ve got to have that willpower to say ‘No, I can work through it’. Your legs aren’t really hurting, it’s just your brain telling you that. When I’m still struggling, I will tell myself ‘no my mum went through so much more pain than this with emotional pain and physical pain and I’ve just got to battle to the end’.”

Lizzie heard the shock news after Frances felt a change in her breast while showering.

Frances, explained: “They say to look for lumps but there was no lump, no puckering, no skin changes. I just noticed one breast had become slightly firmer than the other.

“That was on the Sunday, I went to the doctor on the Monday and then the day before Lizzie’s 13th birthday I got my formal diagnosis.

My tumour had reached the size of a tennis ball.

“All I thought is ‘am I going to pass this on to my daughter?’ That was my biggest concern, but fortunately it’s not the hereditary one.”

She added: “It’s us against the world which is why it’s so difficult. You reflect on your own mortality and what would happen.

“It was the right decision to tell her early.

“I said to her ‘I’m going to fight it and I will be there when you have your first child to hold her in my arms.

I will be there and you’ve got to believe that.’ “It was a terrible thing to have to tell your daughter.” From that moment Lizzie knew she would be there for her mum.

And testament to the pair’s unshakeable strength to show cancer who is boss, they still went to Thorpe Park for Lizzie’s birthday enjoying the rides together.

Lizzie, explained: “Mum said she was going to get through it, and in a way, I’m glad it’s happened to mum and not to other people because I knew my mum would be strong enough to fight it.

“She is strong, wilful, stubborn. I’m very proud she has come this far.”

Medics rightly feared the cancer, which was aggressive and fast-growing, had spread to her lymph nodes, and acted fast in a bid to battle it.

Within 19 days of first discovering the lump, Frances was undergoing gruelling chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumour.

The sessions led to hair loss and sickness.

The successful chemotherapy meant two months ago Frances had surgery – a lumpectomy to remove part of her breast.

Now she is enduring weeks of radiotherapy to kill any stray cells and will then be checked every four months.

Lizzie, a Wyvern Technical College pupil, urged other mums in the same situation to be open with their children.

She said: “I am pretty strong but you never think it is going to happen so close to you. You don’t think your mum’s going to get cancer tomorrow so I was pretty shocked.

“Mum had a tough decision to tell me before my birthday but I’m glad she was open with me about it.

“I’d urge other teenagers to speak to their mum about it.

Comfort them because if mum hadn’t have spoken to me about it, she’d have been keeping it to herself and I would have worried. I wouldn’t have wanted her to go through that as well as all the medication.”

And Frances is the first to admit Lizzie has given her the strength to fight the disease.

The mum-of-one giggled as she recalled Lizzie being there to help pull a needle out of her finger when she missed injecting her stomach after a glass of wine. The pair laughed together following a three-and-a-half hour operation when Frances admired her breast for being ‘plump’. Her daughter was even there to tell her she had grey hair when it started to grow back.

Frances said the hardest part of having cancer was being so tired she missed Lizzie race for Hampshire. She added: “I lost my hair almost immediately. It fell out in clumps in the shower.

I came out, burst into tears and said ‘Beth my hair is falling out.’ She hugged me and said ‘at least it is working mum.

“The only reason I’ve put myself through it is to make sure I come out the other end for her. I think if I didn’t have Lizzie I might have looked at it differently but when you’re a mother you have no option than to fight it and come out the other end.

“You always say life’s not a rehearsal, live it. But you don’t.

This has made me realise. It’s made me realise every day with my daughter is absolutely precious.

“Thank God I went to the doctors. I would urge any woman who notices any unusual changes to their breasts to see their doctor as soon as they can.”

Both Lizzie and her mum will complete this year’s Race for Life for Cancer Research UK on Sunday, June 9 and they have urged as many people as possible to support the event.

RACE FOR LIFE IS NON-COMPETITIVE Though Lizzie will be pushing herself for another victory, Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life in partnership with Tesco is open to all women.

Rachel Northover, event organiser, said: “Race for Life is noncompetitive.

It’s not about being fit or fast. Most women are able to walk 5k in an hour while chatting and having fun. Or they can choose to jog, run or even dance around the course if they prefer.

“They come from different backgrounds and walks of life but they are united by their absolute determination to take on cancer and beat it.”

Last year more than 7,700 women took part in Race for Life in Winchester and Southampton and raised more than £450,000. This year organisers hope 8,000 people will help to raise £460,000 for vital research.

Race for Life is at the Garrison Ground and University of Winchester Stadium on Sunday, June 9 and at Southampton Common on Sunday, July 14.

To support Lizzie, Frances and the team go to raceforlifesponsorme.org/lizzies-ladies13 To enter Race for Life today visit raceforlife.org or call 0845 600 6050