A breast cancer survivor who benefited from free therapies has praised the charity which gave her the treatments.

Maggie Keen, of Somerset Terrace, Queenborough, was diagnosed with the disease in 2009 after finding a lump.

She went through chemotherapy, radiotherapy and had Herceptin – a medicine used to treat certain types of cancer – and was given the all-clear.

Now the 64-year-old has to have check-ups once a year and says she feels great.

While she was in recovery, she was made aware of the Harmony Therapy Trust, which is the Times Guardian’s Charity of the Year.

It was started by Minster resident Dawn Cockburn in 2010 and is based at the Sheppey Leisure Complex, off Royal Road, Sheerness.

It offers free therapies to people with serious illnesses and, after she had had her chemo, Ms Keen had six sessions of reflexology, which she said helped her mentally as well as physically.

“I heard about Dawn and so I went there and she was absolutely marvellous,” the grandmother-of-two said.

“The whole thing is lovely because you can go in there and it’s just so relaxing. I was never really that down with the cancer – I just coped with it – but when you are with Dawn it’s just ‘you time’.

“For that half hour the door is shut and you don’t really think about anything else – you switch off completely and drift off.

“Dawn is so understanding – there’s not much you can’t speak to her about and I just think it’s wonderful there is something like this.”

Ms Keen, who used to work at the cafe in Tesco, Sheerness, feels so good, she is even taking part in a fundraiser for the trust next month.

She will join the KM Charity Abseil in Maidstone on Sunday, March 16, with a target of £500.

“I’m scared stiff about it – I feel sick on escalators,” she added.

To sponsor Ms Keen, go to www.justgiving.com/M-Keen