A young doctor with incurable skin cancer believes it was caused by getting badly sunburnt as a child.

Val Coupes, 34, said: "I have fair colouring and I did burn quite badly as a child, but 30 years ago there wasn’t the same awareness of the dangers of the sun as there is now."

She was first diagnosed aged 27 when her mum noticed a mole on her back was bleeding. She had the mole removed and after five years’ of check-ups she was given the all clear.

Three years ago, however, she found a lump and tests revealed the cancer had returned and had spread too far to be cured.

Val, a paediatrician from Didsbury, said: "I’m happy to share my story if it increases awareness and makes people protect themselves in the sun, or check their moles or even encourages more people to raise money for research into cancer.

"Even when I started working as a children's doctor 10 year ago we would see young children in buggies, being brought into hospital badly burned. That has reduced now.

"There is no cure – not even chemotherapy – for melanoma so survival rates are very low."

Val has been taking part in a trial to try to find the first chemotherapy treatment to tackle malignant melanoma. This has slowed the spread of her condition but there is currently no cure.

She said: "When I was offered the chance of being on a trial which might help people in the future it was really important to me to do that. It’s vital research continues to give people like me a chance in the future and that is why I would urge all women to think about signing up for Race for Life and raising as much cash as possible."

Val, who works at Halliwell Children's Centre in Bolton, currently undergoes a scan at The Christie every few months. She feels well and is still working full-time.

She will be the starter for this year’s Race For Life at Heaton Park to raise vital funds for Cancer Research UK. She will then run the race. The charity’s Heaton Park event manager, Nelson Laurencia, said: "We are honoured that someone as brave and upbeat as Val will be our special guest of honour at the flagship Race for Life event in the north west.

"No doubt she will inspire and motivate the thousands of women taking part that day."

Three Race for Life events will be held at Heaton Park in July.

A 10k event will be held on July 10 at 10.30am and the usual 5k events will be held on July 11 at 11am and 2.30pm.

Organisers hope the three events will raise £650,000 for Cancer Research UK.