MICHELLE Bown fought her battle against cancer with great courage and dignity.Today, as he prepares for her funeral, her husband Jonn paid tribute to the 33-year-old and told how she refused to submit to the disease after being diagnosed with skin cancer 12 months ago.

MICHELLE Bown fought her battle against cancer with great courage and dignity.

Today, as he prepares for her funeral, her husband Jonn paid tribute to the 33-year-old and told how she refused to submit to the disease after being diagnosed with skin cancer 12 months ago.

Mr Bown, of Rushmere St Andrew, said: “It was about March 14 last year. Michelle had a check up for a small lump on her face and the biopsy came back as malignant. Then she had further tests.

“We were obviously shocked, but determined to fight the battle against the disease as best we could. Michelle was always a sore loser and she fought it without complaint all the way.”

Mrs Bown, an operating department practitioner at Ipswich Hospital, underwent chemotherapy and treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, but still tried to carry on as normal.

Mr Bown, 33, said: “Michelle went to work when she could and maintained as much of an active life as she could. She was always worried about me and her family.

“It was quite a large lump on her face. Some people would hide away, but she said 'no I'm still going to have a social life' and went out with her friends.

“Some of her friends are doing the Race for Life (a national cancer fundraiser) this year. Michelle ran the Colchester one last year when she was undergoing chemotherapy. She stayed positive right up until the end.

“Michelle was a lively, outgoing character. She was just very personable. She was friendly, had time for everyone, generous and was respected and loved by those who knew and worked with her.”

Mr Bown, a British Transport police officer in London, said his wife of seven years died suddenly in Ipswich Hospital last week.

“It was very sudden. Michelle's condition deteriorated so fast we don't believe she was aware. There were some tumours on her brain and they caused her to lapse into unconsciousness, before she passed away peacefully last Thursday. Twenty-four hours beforehand she was up and about doing the normal things and there were friends with her on Thursday morning.”

Mrs Bown's funeral will be held on Thursday, March 23, at 2pm at St Andrew Parish Hall Church, in Rushmere.

In addition to her husband, she leaves her father, James, her mother, Jean, and a sister, Sobhan .

The family are asking donations be made in lieu of flowers to the Willow Foundation, which helps provide a good quality of life for those with cancer. Donations can be made c/o WH Shephard funeral directors, 93/94 High Street, Colchester.