LAST week I had some very good news – I didn’t have breast cancer.

The results of my latest mammogram were clear, a letter informed me. That left me feeling elated because 10 years ago the result of a mammogram gave me the devastating news that I did have breast cancer.

It was very early, an enclosed cancer, but it still needed surgery and probably treatment afterwards.

Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones: the surgery (and a skilled radiographer who managed to capture rogue cells when she took a biopsy) gave me the all-clear.

I had five years on a drugs trial, annual mammograms and I’m still here. The wait each time for the test results are always worrying, but I remain very grateful to the skilled hospital staff and the screening programme itself.

Now new figures, resulting from data from more than 10 million women around the world, show that inviting women for regular mammograms does save lives.

In fact, it cuts cancer deaths by 40 per cent among women aged 50 to 69 in the UK.

This screening has not always received the best press. Some experts fear that the risks of this type of X-ray programme outweigh the benefits because catching a tumour early can sometimes lead women into having surgery and potentially harmful treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy unnecessarily.

The latest figures suggest the situation is now much clearer, and they come at a time when breast cancer is this country’s most common type of cancer with 50,000 new cases diagnosed every year.

Waiting for my screening at the Royal Bolton Hospital’s breast unit two weeks ago, I marvelled again at the range of women – and men – being screened.

Who would have thought all those years ago when so many local people raised the thousands to buy the town’s first mammography machine through the Bolton Breast Scanner Appeal that it would be saving so many lives in 2015? I believe it saved mine.

I know that some women don’t go for their appointments, they prefer not to even acknowledge the possibility they could have breast cancer, or hate the slight discomfort of the procedure so much that they allow this to prevent them from attending appointments.

All I would say to them is, please, if you love life, take advantage of this remarkable screening programme — and take action to safeguard your own health.