Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Sarah Smith has spoken about the ovarian cancer she was diagnosed with five months ago.

She has also pledged support to Ovacome, the cancer charity’s #TellYourDaughter selfie awareness trail on social media.

Mrs Smith underwent chemotherapy before Christmas and had major surgery last month. But that has not deterred her from campaigning for the Dover and Deal seat in May’s general election.

She said: “I’ve managed to keep my political campaign alive from my desktop and with the help of volunteers.

“It’s amazing how much I’ve managed to do and I do feel almost back to normal.

“My chemo is due to finish on March 31 and so I will be able to get back on the streets talking to people face-to-face in plenty time before the election.”

But before she physically returns to politics, Mrs Smith will join a host of celebrities in circulating a selfie of her and her two daughters Becky, 26 and Elli, 19, on Facebook and Twitter on Sunday, March 1.

This is to encourage mothers to talk to their daughters about the symptoms of ovarian cancer.

Morning TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, comedian Jenny Éclair and former health minister Edwina Currie are a handful of the celebrities who will be doing the same. It will be in a bid to mark March as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

Mrs Smith lost her mother to ovarian cancer in 2011 and realised how easy it is to dismiss the symptoms that become more apparent over time.

She said: “My experience shows how easy it is for women to brush aside the signs of ovarian cancer as being nothing significant.

“Even though I’d lost my mother just three years earlier to this disease it didn’t click that I could have the same thing when my stomach felt swollen and uncomfortable.”

Even though I’d lost my mother just three years earlier to this disease it didn’t click that I could have the same thing when my stomach felt swollen and uncomfortable.' - Sarah Smith

Mrs Smith said that in retrospect she should have had it checked out.

“I was more tired than usual and had put on weight around my middle over the year, which I put down to getting older.

“I have a very fit lifestyle and am quite self aware, but maybe I just didn’t want to face what it could be.

”When I look at myself giving a speech at the Liberal Democrat conference in October on YouTube I can tell that my tummy is sticking out.

“In the days after this I started to blow up and had seven litres of fluid removed from my abdomen.”

Mrs Smith feels she has continued to give the other candidates “a good run for their money”, despite the diagnosis.

She said: “I am politically motivated and I believe that I will still make the best MP in my area.

“I don’t want my cancer diagnosis to overshadow my campaign, but I do want to use what leverage I have to raise awareness for other women.”

People posting the mother-daughter selfie can donate £2 by texting OCAMOO to 70070 before passing it on to another parent and daughter pair.