4:00pm Thursday 18th August 2011
FRIENDS are taking to the ring to jelly wrestle in Mersea to celebrate a mum fighting her way through cancer.
Nicole Oakes, 34, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease last October after finding a six-inch lump in her breast.
But the mum-of-one, from Birch, overcame all the odds by staying positive and finished her treatment last week.
Now best friend Chloe Kearney, from Peldon, has asked their friends to jelly wrestle to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
“Nicole has been amazing, so positive, and I knew I wanted to do something special to raise money,” said Chloe.
“The ideas of jelly wrestling just came up after a friend challenged me to an arm wrestle. It’s going to be a family event, though, so the girls will be in shorts and T-shirts!”
For Nicole, her four-year-old daughter Amelia inspired her to fight the disease. It has been a battle, but I have had amazing support from my family and friends and I finished my chemotherapy last week,” she said.
“Amelia was born 15 weeks early and fought for her life. I just thought ‘I can’t be beaten by this’. She has fought so hard – I can’t leave her.” Because of the size of the tumour and the aggressiveness of the cancer, Nicole wasn’t given much hope by her doctors.
But thanks to medication and positive thinking, she hopes she’s finally beaten the disease.
“I told all my friends to ‘think shrink’ whenever they were doing something like washing up,” she said. “It must have worked because the doctors went from telling me the tumour was so large they couldn’t operate, to it shrinking to six milimetres and I only had to undergo a lumpectomy.”
But despite wanting to join in with the jelly wrestling, Nicole will be watching from the sidelines.
She said: “I can’t take part because I have only just finished my treatment. But if this year’s event goes well, I want to hold another next year so I can challenge the winner.”
Jelly wrestling will be held at the Fox Inn, in West Mersea, on September 3, from 1.30pm.
Tickets, costing £5 for adults and £1 for children, can be bought from the pub, or you can pay on the day when it’s £7.50 for adults and £1.50 for children.
Anyone who wants to donate raffle prizes can contact Chloe by e-mailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it To sponsor the girls taking part, go to justgiving.com/ChloeKearney250619