A TEACHER and athlete is back in top shape after battling cancer four times.

Despite gruelling treatment and surgery for many years, hammer thrower Angela Morgan, from Eastbourne, was able to take part in the World Masters Athletics Championships in Australia.

Ms Morgan, who teaches science at Bede’s School, was first diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of 1994.

She had already lost her mum, sister and aunt – her mother’s twin – to the disease.

She underwent a segmental mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy which she fitted in around a school ski trip.

However, 18 months later the cancer returned and she needed further treatment, this time a lumpectomy followed by more chemo and radiotherapy.

She fought back to full health and all seemed well until the end of 2013, when Ms Morgan discovered she had bladder cancer.

A routine mammogram also revealed her breast cancer had returned.

In July 2014, Ms Morgan had her bladder and a kidney removed and three months later she had a double mastectomy.

Ms Morgan, 58, took up athletics when she was 11, but she didn’t start throwing the hammer until she was 35.

She is a member of Eastbourne Rovers athletics club where she trains and coaches.

Ms Morgan has brushed off her amazing comeback from cancer.

She said: “You just get on with it. That’s always been my attitude.

“I have a fantastic family and friends. They have been absolutely amazing.

“When I needed radiotherapy in Brighton, five days a week for five weeks, they just drew up a rota and got me there.”

Ms Morgan is now backing Cancer Research UK’s new event, Race for Life Hike, and will be guest of honour at the event on the South Downs in September.

She said: “It’s thanks to research that I, and others like me, are here today.

“That’s why we need more funding for more research, raised through events like Race for Life Hike. “

Race for Life Hike is a series of one-day long-distance walks for women of all ages and abilities.