JUST weeks after returning home from her honeymoon, Sabah Ghani was told she had cancer.

For the 24-year-old it was devastating news.

She said: "I remember lying on the hospital bed, completely shocked, wondering what I should do.

"A doctor - he said he was an oncologist, but I didn't know what that meant - had told me I had Hodgkins Lymphoma and I remember asking him: What is that? Is it a disease?

"I had no idea. Once I knew, all I wanted to find out was: Will I be okay?"

For Sabah the warning signs had been there as she prepared for her wedding.

But she had blamed pre-wedding nerves.

Finance graduate Sabah was preparing for her wedding to childhood sweetheart Zain Khan when she began to feel unwell.

Her chest pains, persistent cough and fatigue were all dismissed as pre-wedding nerves, but when she discovered a lump under her arm the day before she was due to get married, she began to realise something might be seriously wrong.

Sabah said: "I didn't want to spoil the day, so I didn't say anything and we went off on our honeymoon to Dubai and Mauritius as planned.

"But things got worse. I could hardly eat anything, and I had a fever. Looking back, it feels like it all passed me by in a dream.

"It wasn't how it was supposed to be."

Sabah saw her GP as soon as she came home to Cessnock, as she now had lumps on her neck and collar bone.

"She sent me to hospital immediately," she says. "I had lots of tests, including a surgical biopsy, and then I got the news I had cancer.

"I just cried for 10 minutes. Then Zain came and he told me we would get through it together.

"He has been amazing, so calm all the time. He told me I was beautiful, even when I lost my long hair during treatment.

"That was the worst for me - I've always had long hair. I asked the nurses to turn off the lights in the ward and I couldn't talk to anyone except Zain."

AFTER six months of chemotherapy, a delighted Sabah was told the treatment had worked and the cancer had gone.

She said: "It was odd saying goodbye to the nurses at the New Victoria who helped me through - I was relieved and sad and happy, but all I could think was I had been given a second chance. I'm determined to make the most of it.

"Every day has to be special and there's no point in settling for second best.

"So it feels good to be standing here, standing up to cancer, today."

Sabah is supporting Cancer Research UK's Stand Up to Cancer campaign, which includes a march in Edinburgh on October 11 and a live TV fundraiser on Channel 4 at 7.30pm on Friday October 17, hosted by Davina McCall, Alan Carr and Dr Christian Jessen.

But yesterday in Bellahouston Park's walled garden, all eyes were on Sabah, who had a park bench named in her honour in a clever twist on the usual plaque dedications.

The inscription reads: "Sabah Ghani loved sitting here - and still does, thanks to everyone who Stands Up to Cancer...."

She said: "I really love it. It's a great way of showing that people can survive this devastating disease.

"I hope everyone who sees it will be inspired to help create more tomorrows for people like me and my family by getting involved in the Stand Up To Cancer campaign."