"You have to live like there's no tomorrow": Cancer survivor rekindles love for baking with new cake business

After a battle with ovarian cancer, the 27 year old, from Lostock Hall, found that she had rekindled her love for baking and decided to set up Honey Bee's Bakery.

Offering a range of sweet treats from cupcakes to brownies and wedding cakes, Emily said that her new venture has been a success, leaving her calendar fully booked until the end of October.

She said: "I moved down to my parent's house in Devon for the first few months of lockdown and found myself baking every day when I was there. I had so much time to focus on it and perfect my baking that I decided that when I got back, I would set up the licensing for my business in Preston.

"In lockdown there have been no weddings and I realise that there is a lot of competition in the area with other bakeries. I was very sceptical, but because I was on furlough from my other job, I had the opportunity to see if I could manage it full time."

Having previously worked for a different bakery in Preston, Emily went on to work as project manager at Eddie Stobart's before stumbling across her old love for cakes again earlier this year.

For Emily, being diagnosed with ovarian cancer at such a young age made her more determined and 'live like there's no tomorrow'.

Battling at the same time as dad Howard, who is currently undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, meant she often felt isolated.

"I was diagnosed with stage one ovarian cancer back in November, meaning the cells were high-risk cancer cells. I had an operation in December and then started radiotherapy in the Januray. I am an annoyingly positive person but it really got to me," she said.

"As soon as you hear the word 'cancer', you think it is the end and that you could die. With my dad having treatment at the same time, I felt very alone at times. It is one of those things that I learnt to live with.

"You have to just keep going and keep focusing, especially with ovarian cancer because it doesn't always get diagnosed at such a young age. It has definitely encouraged all my friends to get smear tests and be grateful for every day."

With the support of her dad, mum Sandra and brother Richard, Emily is now running her bakery business from her home in Lostock Hall - and hopes her recent success will present her with the opportunity to open up her own shop in the future.

She added: "I really did not expect it to be going as well as it has been. I only opened in June and can't believe how busy I am. I am already getting wedding bookings and jobs for next year and am fully booked until the end of October."

The Honey Bee bakery can be found on Facebook HERE.