THREE Gwent women are tackling breast cancer headon and gearing up to take part in a charity catwalk show.

Over the past two years, the number of women being treated for breast cancer in Gwent rose from 390 in 2009/10 to 445 in 2010/11, with 103 women receiving treatment between April and June this year.

Breast Cancer Care is staging a charity fashion show with a group of women affected by breast cancer to show the disease has not got the better of them.

Retired teacher Gaynor Sinton, 59, who lives in Llanvaches, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and is now cancer-free after having a mastectomy and breast reconstruction before undergoing chemotherapy and herceptin treatment.

The catwalk show is the latest fundraising feat Mrs Sinton has taken part in for the charity, having completed a six-day trek across Cuba and and the Ben Nevis Challenge in 2008, a 20- mile ribbon walk in the Cotswolds in 2009 and a nine-day trek to Macchu Picchu with TV presenters Fearne Cotton and Denise Van Outen last year.

Mrs Sinton said: “I just fancied doing something a bit more glamorous for a change. I thought it would be good to show that women can be sexy and glamorous after breast cancer.”

Last April, Sarah Miles, 37, from Blackwood, went to the doctors after noticing pain in her breast when she was putting her son in the bath.

Ms Miles, a finance company trainer, underwent a lumpectomy, but then had to have a further operation to remove the sentinel nodes, before having chemotherapy, radiotherapy and herceptin and tamoxifen.

She said: “I saw the fashion show advertised on the website and e-mailed to see if they needed any help and then they said I should sign up. It’ll just be something nice to look forward to.”

Claire Gilbertson, who owns The Belmont Inn, Abergavenny, was also diagnosed in April last year after finding a lump while having a shower. She underwent a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and is currently taking herceptin.

She said: “I lost my hair and everything. The main thing that kept me going was the support of Breast Cancer Care and people in the pub. I had an e-mail from Sarah Miles to say about the fashion show and I thought it would be a nice way to give something back.

“It will help show people that there’s more to life than cancer.”

The fashion show takes place on March 7 at Cardiff’s City Hall.

For more information, visit www.breastcancercare.org.uk/theshow