A SPORTSWOMAN wants young people to be more aware that they can get breast cancer too - not just older people.

Georgia Clifford, 20, plays for the Oxford United women’s team and is helping the club raise money for support charity, Breast Cancer Awareness after she had a cancer scare earlier this year.

The centre back is keen to make young women aware that anyone can get the disease.

She said: “Young people just think, ‘oh I’m not gonna be affected by it’, so they don’t do the checks we need to be doing and that’s the most scariest thing.

“I think for us to be supporting it and making it vocal so younger girls and younger women - even men - can understand it, is such an important thing.”

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Miss Clifford had a cancer scare when she was showering one day and after telling her mum, she went to the doctors to get checked.

She said: “It was at that point when I thought ok this could be serious. You always think ‘oh that’s never gonna happen to me’ but the reality of it is that it can - it can happen to anyone.

“The more it went on, the more I went to see the specialists and the more worried I got. Thankfully it was nothing and it didn’t turn out to be cancerous.”

Despite Miss Clifford being fine, she was always told by doctors that something could be wrong and so she prepared herself for the worse.

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She said: “They were like, ‘we’re really glad you’ve come in to catch it early, to go through the process’. But it was such a scary process - I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about it, like my friends, they didn’t understand because they hadn’t experienced it.

“They were like ‘it’s not gonna be that, don’t worry about it’ but in my own head my mum and dad were like ‘ok it probably wont be but it’s still best to go now instead of waiting a couple of months and then going and checking.’”

Throughout October, Oxford United Women are supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

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Their home game against Norwich City next Saturday will be a designated Breast Cancer Awareness match with activities in the afternoon to help support life-changing research and care.

Miss Clifford said: “My nan sadly passed away from cancer so I know how it feels - I know how it affects the whole family.

“So when I found out that we were supporting it I wanted to do all I could to get involved to raise money, to raise awareness, and that’s not just for Breast Cancer Awareness its for every different cancer.

“It’s so important that everyone sees that it can happen to you at any stage of life and even if it doesn’t happen to you now you can help others. I think it’s a very important message to get out.”