Blood on pillow was Berkshire woman’s first sign of leukaemia

The diagnosis was not the first time Winslet had been told she had cancer, having previously battled breast cancer.

“I thought I’d gotten a t-shirt and I was done,” she said.

“I suppose in a way it helped me, because I knew that I could survive cancer.”

“I was ready to go to war.”

During her treatment for leukaemia, the 61-year-old who lives near Bracknell, also contracted sepsis, complicating her recovery.

But after gruelling rounds of of chemotherapy and treatment, Winslet received a successful stem cell transplant and is now in remission.

“The doctors told me the reason that I pulled through this so strongly as I did was that I came into it fit strong healthy with a healthy lifestyle,” she explained.

“I want to tell people that it’s not going to keep you from getting cancer, but it can help you fight cancer – if you are one of the unfortunate people that gets diagnosed with it.”