A TEENAGER who beat cancer has chosen her twin sister to help her launch the 25th birthday celebrations of Race for Life in Scotland.

Erin McCafferty and twin Nicole will sound the starting gun on the race on Sunday, May 19 at Glasgow Green.

Despite entering the world just 25 minutes apart, they were born on separate days with Erin arriving at 11.50pm on November 1 while Nicole was born in the early hours of November 2, 2000.

But after Erin was diagnosed with leukaemia only three days before her 15th birthday, Nicole vowed to do everything she could to share that heartache, standing by her every step of the way through treatment.

Now Erin has been given the all clear, the twins are marking the Cancer Research Race For Life milestone.

And there’s a chance to join the Race for Life 25th birthday celebrations at a special event on Argyle Street on Saturday, March 30 between 10am and 5.30pm.

Shoppers can decorate a sign to say who they’ll join the Race for Life for this year as well as submit their entry for this year’s event and take part in some fun glitter face painting.

Erin, now 18, said: “I’ve just celebrated the first year of being cancer free and it’s been the best year of my life.

“Nicole may be my little sister by 25 minutes but she’s also been like a best friend.

"I’m lucky to have a twin sister who I’m so close to.

"When I had my hair shaved off after I was losing it due to the side effects from chemotherapy it was Nicole who held me for ten minutes as we cried in the toilets.

"But I didn’t actually cry the first day I was told I had cancer. I think I was just in shock.

"When you’re a teenager you feel that you’re invincible. Cancer was something that happened to other people.

"It didn’t even enter my head that I might get the disease.

“Cancer made Nicole and I grow up very quickly. We got through it and now if we can help other people get through it then we’ll do everything we can.”

Every day, 88 people are diagnosed with cancer in Scotland and the number of people being diagnosed with cancer has now reached around 32,000 people every year.

Erin was in her fourth year at Carluke High School when she first started feeling unwell, developing unexplained bruises and fainting on the way to school.

She recalls vividly the moment her life was turned upside down on October 29, 2015, at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow after tests revealed she had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Erin endured two and a half years of treatment including eight cycles of chemotherapy in total.

Her lowest point was in May 2016 when a chest infection led to pneumonia and Erin was in the intensive care ward, watched over anxiously by her parents, Yvonne McCafferty and Vincent Mooney, both 47.

Erin said: “I thought I was going to die.

"I felt so terrible. I remember even saying to my mum that if this was really it then she should just let me go.

"I felt so unwell then but my consultant Dr Brenda Gibson was amazing, very calm and explained what we were going to do to get me well again."

As Erin slowly recovered there were good days too.

Her twin Nicole rallied family and friends to raise more than £31,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

It was fixed up for the twins to meet the Britain’s Got Talent stars including Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and comedian David Walliams and they also jetted to London to a gig where they met singer Olly Murs.

But the greatest highpoint was on February 27 last year after Erin took her final chemotherapy pill and was able to ring the ‘End of Treatment bell’ at hospital.

Now Erin is keen to train as a nurse to help others.

Erin said: “I was very scared in the early days when I got cancer and there were some really special, highly skilled nurses who stepped in to help me saying just the right thing at exactly the time I needed them to.

“I’d love to be that special person for someone else in the future and to give something back.”

Cancer Research UK has funded pioneering research in to understanding different types of childhood leukaemia, which has improved the way children are treated today, meaning more survive.

Organisers are appealing for Scots of all ages and abilities to stride out to help beat cancer with Scotland’s first Race for Life 5K and 10K events of the year kicking off in Stirling and South Queensferry on May 12, closely followed this spring by events across the country, everywhere from Edinburgh to Irvine, Falkirk to Fife. Scotland’s biggest Race for Life event is on Sunday May 19 at Glasgow Green.

Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life, in partnership with Tesco, is a series of 5k, 10k, Pretty Muddy and Pretty Muddy Kids events which raise millions of pounds every year to help beat cancer by funding crucial research.

To enter Race for Life see raceforlife.org or call 0300 123 0770.