LIFE has been full of heartbreak for a mother-of-two, who has lost two husbands to cancer and is now facing her own battle with a non-curable disease.

But despite the rough deal life has dealt her, Eileen Rhodes is more concerned about the suffering of other people - and has raised thousands of pounds for charities over the years.

The 83-year-old, who lives off Poppleton Road, in York, had only one week to say goodbye to her first husband, Jim Smart, who died of prostate cancer in 1983.

She said: "We were living in the Scottish Borders at the time. He suddenly fell in and was rushed to hospital in Edinburgh, where he was told he had a week to live.

"I was devastated. Neither of us had any idea he had cancer until that moment. It was so sudden.

"During that last week he was unconscious throughout and I couldn't even say goodbye properly. That was very upsetting."

Eileen, who is a retired special needs teacher, met Jim when she was 23 and they had been married for 40 years before his sudden death.

She said: "After Jim died, I said to my children that I would never get married again. But I moved to York and started working as a volunteer at the St Sampson's Centre and it was there I met Cliff.

"After losing Jim, it was so wonderful to be happy again. Cliff was one of those rare gems - everybody loved him.

"He proposed to me under the Queen Mother's portrait at the centre and we were married in 1985. For our honeymoon, we went to California. It was so romantic."

But her happiness was short-lived after Cliff also fell ill in 1994 - and was diagnosed with leukaemia at York Hospital.

Eileen said: "We had just one month together after he was diagnosed before he died. I can't really describe the pain, I was completely devastated.

"But I knew I had to get on with my life. My motto has always been to keep going."

A year after Cliff's death, Eileen developed the incurable condition lymphedema, which causes her legs to swell to three times their usual size due to an abnormal collection of lymph fluid in her body tissues.

She said: "There's no point in feeling sorry for myself because I know there are many people far worse of than myself.

"Lymphedema isn't life-threatening, but every day a district nurse has to come to my home to dress both my legs.

"It gives me some pain in my back because it increases your body weight so much, but I'm still active."

Eileen now focuses all her efforts on fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support, which provides medical, emotional and financial support for cancer patients and their families.

On Saturday, September 29, she is holding a marathon coffee morning at 26 Prior's Walk, in York, from 10am to 6pm.