Cancer survivor's 'surreal' meeting with King

A cancer survivor who attended a reception for cancer charities at Buckingham Palace has described meeting King Charles III and Queen Camilla as "surreal".

Sbba Siddique from Slough, Berkshire, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2022 at the age of 53, and, after receiving treatment, has been in remission for two years.

Since then, she has campaigned to improve outcomes for women and south Asian people who are diagnosed with cancer, and was invited to attend the reception on Wednesday along with several other people from charity Target Ovarian Cancer.

She said the event was "extraordinary".

"Just being in that room and the number of different charities that were there and represented, many of them who were quite small and they don't have... the huge [funding] pots to be able to provide support, but are still being able to do extraordinary things," she said.

"To stand alongside them was just such a joy."

She said the King looked "really, really good", adding: "It's amazing that even with a cancer diagnosis he's still giving so much back of his time."

She said her cancer diagnosis turned her world upside down.

"The emotional toil is what really just takes things over the edge," she said.

She said charities such as Target Ovarian Cancer had provided valuable support for her, and now, she wanted to give back and raise awareness of the cancer, which affects around 7,400 woman a year in the UK.

"I'm on a journey of raising awareness so more women are aware of the signs and symptoms to look out for, which hopefully will help save lives," she said.

"If one woman picks up on that, understands what the signs and symptoms are and goes to her GP and pushes them to do tests, then that's a good day at the office... I have taken that pain, the pain of that journey, and tried to turn it into purpose."

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