JENNIFER Downie still remembers it. Not the doctor speaking to her, nor the gasp from her mum when she heard the news, but hearing her dad Jim crying on the other end of the phone.

It was October 2006, just a few months after her 18th birthday and she had just been told she had thyroid cancer.

"I still can't remember being told I had cancer - I was stunned," says Jennifer, now 20.

"When my dad phoned, he wouldn't believe me at first. He was telling me off for making a joke in bad taste.

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"Then he realised I wasn't laughing. I just remember him getting upset. He's a policeman and doesn't get upset often.

"When I got home he was sitting crying his eyes out."

Jennifer's ordeal began at Easter in 2006.

The school-leaver was settling in to her new job as an estate agent in her home town of Howwood, Renfrewshire and things were great - except for a lump on her neck.

As a fashion conscious 18-year-old, she was "getting sick of people talking to my neck rather than my face".

The GP suggested it was an underactive thyroid and a scan suggested it was nothing more than a cyst.

However, by June, it was still growing and specialists at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley agreed to cut away some of the lump for cosmetic reasons.

The procedure was carried out in September and the surgeon sent Jennifer home telling her he would see her in six weeks to see how the scar was healing.

But a letter arrived four weeks later ordering Jennifer to return to the hospital.

A biopsy on the lump revealed it was cancer.

"That was it," says Jennifer. "I had to go back to get the rest of my thyroid removed and was told I would need to attend the Beatson Cancer Clinic for radiotherapy."

Everyone in the family went to pieces.

Liz couldn't believe someone so young could get cancer. Jennifer's 16-year-old sister Louise was crying and Jim, her gran and grandad were distraught.

Jennifer says: "I remember wondering if I would die and getting upset with my pals and my boyfriend Jordan.

"This might sound odd, but then something changed. My mum and dad and friends and boyfriend were all up to high-do, so I felt I didn't need to worry about me as I had so many people thinking of me. I just got on with it."

Friends and family became her rock. While the operation to get the rest of the thyroid removed was straightforward, the radiotherapy wasn't.

Jennifer was in an isolation room as her doses of radiation made her a danger to others.

People could only spend 30 minutes out of 24 hours with her and they had to stand behind a screen. Anyone under 18 wasn't allowed any contact with her at all.

Relatives created a rota for visiting to make sure she had as much company as possible.

"It was lonely," she says. "I felt like I had a the plague. It was a time when I really wanted a hug but I couldn't. My sister wasn't allowed near me."

But the distance from her pals didn't mean they weren't helping her.

"People gradually found out I was sick," explains Jennifer.

"People phoned my close friends asking what was happening. They were great, they always told me when someone got in contact but didn't go into too much detail about how I was. It took a lot of the strain off me."

The side effects were also tough. The loss of her thyroid meant that though a size eight before her treatment, Jennifer ballooned to a size 12, putting on more than two stones.

Her normally great hair was dry and she got acne.

"At first it was hard. I know it sounds superficial, but buying clothes two sizes bigger was hard. But thanks to my friends I got my head around the idea that it is better to put on two stones than be dead.

"They joked - you just look like one of us now!

"It was tough for them. They got the brunt of my tears as I didn't want to talk about my problems with my family - they were too close."

Nearly 18 months on and a recent scan revealed the cancer hasn't returned. Now on the drug thyroxin, some of the side effects of losing her thyroid have been balanced out.

Jennifer even smiles when she admits she is still a size 12.

And those friends who got her through the dark times are about to help Jennifer again.

They are taking part in this year's Cancer Research UK Race for Life 5K at Glasgow Green on June 8.

Pal Joanne Smith said: "We've all seen Jennifer go through some tough times. The way she has handled her situation has been an inspiration to us all, so when she said she was running in the 5K this year we decided we'd take part too."

As well as her mum, aunt and cousin, 10 of her friends are also joining her, and Jordan will cheer from the sidelines.

"It is great they've decided to join me," says Jennifer. "I managed to take part last year, but I had to walk as I was so sick.

"But this is a new year and the people that supported me then will be with me in June.

"Hopefully we'll help raise enough money to help somebody who wasn't as lucky with their battle with cancer as me."