A CANCER scientist who has been diagnosed with the illness twice in one year is now determined to use her expertise to stop others suffering.

When Dr Zuzana Brabcova was diagnosed with cancer she said the shock was "like being hit by a lorry".

But she fought back against the disease, undergoing intensive radiotherapy and chemotherapy to be given the all clear.

Just months later, however, she was told the cancer she thought had beaten had actually spread.

The 32-year-old said: “It was like a big lorry hit me when they told me I had cancer.

"I thought they must be wrong, they must be talking about a different patient.

"I just sat staring at them, I didn’t feel like they were talking about me."

Zuzana, who lives in Anniesland, was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the cervix in October 2016 after she noticed some abnormal bleeding.

The diagnosis could not have come at a worst time for the scientist as she was approaching the end of her contract as a physicist at Northumbria University.

She said: “It was everything at the same time. My contract was about to finish and I found out I had cancer.

"For two months I was going to the hospital every single day and fighting with two stresses - the treatment and a future job."

Zuzana had to undergo intensive radiotherapy and chemotherapy which made her very poorly.

But in February 2017 doctors gave her the good news that the treatment had worked.

And deciding she had nothing to lose, Zuzana, originally from the Czech Republic, decided to look for a new job.

She said: “In these dark times I realised I can change something and find new hope. So I decided to change my field to cancer research.

"I applied for the position in Glasgow and when I heard I got the job I was super excited.

"It was as if all the light had come back into my life.”

Zuzana moved to the city in May 2017 to begin her new role as a data scientist at the Cancer Research UK Glasgow Centre at Glasgow University, studying how leukaemia cells use energy and nutrients to survive.

But only six months later doctors at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre gave her the devastating news that her cancer was not gone after all.

A routine PET scan in the November revealed the cervical cancer she thought she had beaten had spread to her lymph nodes.

Zuzanna had always been very proud of her long hair, which had been saved during her first round of treatment.

But this time, doctor's told her she would lose it all.

She said: “I was so shocked and super upset when I got my second diagnosis.

"I asked my doctor about my hair and she said they wouldn’t be able to save it this time.

"I decided I wasn’t going to wait to lose it. I had a lot of hair and I wouldn’t have any use for it once it was gone.

"So I thought I could turn something bad into something good and give it to charity."

Zuzana decided to shave her head and donate her hair to the Little Princess Trust.

The scientist handed over more than sixty centimetres of her hair to help the charity provide wigs to children and young adults who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment or other illnesses.

She also managed to raise more than £2100 for Cancer Research UK and the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre in Glasgow through donations from family, friends and colleagues.

After returning to Glasgow from visiting family in Prague for Christmas, Zuzana began cancer treatment for the second time in just over a year in January.

She says the six rounds of aggressive chemotherapy were “pretty tough” and a recent scan has revealed that more might be needed.

But she is remaining positive.

She added: “Finally, the results are not that bad. The doctors told me that the cancer might stay incurable but it will be manageable.

"It’s the deal I take now but I refuse to act as a sick person.

"I will not consider myself sick, I prefer to work and exercise like any person.”

Now, having recently completed a second round of intensive chemotherapy, Zuzana is encouraging women of all ages and abilities to follow her lead and sign up to Cancer Research UK's Race For Life at Glasgow Green.

Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life is a women-only series of 5k, 10k and Pretty Muddy events that raise millions of pounds every year to help beat cancer sooner by funding crucial research.

Victoria Steven, Cancer Research UK’s spokesperson in Scotland, said: “We’re so grateful to Zuzana for supporting Race For Life.

“By following Zuzana’s lead, and signing up to Race for Life, women in Glasgow can make a real difference in the fight against the disease.

"Money raised will help Cancer Research UK scientists and doctors find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease, helping save more lives.”

Glasgow is home to a community of world-class cancer scientists and doctors who are working to reduce the impact of the disease, not only locally, but around the world.

Last year Cancer Research UK invested £24 million supporting the work of scientists, doctors and nurses in the city, including a programme of work at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute to look for ways to tailor treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Zuzanna said: “I’m determined to help others by raising money so Cancer Research UK can make sure more men, women and children survive.

"That’s why I’m urging women in Glasgow to join me and unite against cancer at Race for Life because every participant can help make a real difference.”