Mum and daughter with cancer reunited after Leicester lockdown

Marian Thomas and Michelle Teale were able to meet over the weekend for the first time since 2 March

A woman with incurable cancer has been reunited with her mother after the extended lockdown in Leicester kept them separated for 22 weeks.

Michelle Teale, 58, from Leicester, was shielding because she has secondary breast cancer.

She had not seen her mother Marian Thomas, 85, who lives in Cleethorpes, since 2 March when the UK was in the early stages of the coronavirus crisis.

"I'm feeling just elated. It's like a weight's been lifted," said Mrs Teale.

"I can't get into words just how excited I feel and how tough it's been not being able to physically see her.

"I feel more positive. It's helping me deal with my cancer. I just feel brighter."

Mother and daughter were able to meet after the government's shielding programme ended on 1 August

Mrs Teale's husband drove her to Cleethorpes on Saturday when mother and daughter finally met for the first time in more than five months.

Mrs Thomas, a breast cancer survivor, said she had been "counting the days" to see her daughter.

"It seems like a year not 22 weeks.

"I feel a lot better now I've seen her, a lot better.

"It's amazing. The last time I saw her I had to help her into bed and look at her now."

Mrs Teale was diagnosed with cancer in April 2019 while her mother is a breast cancer survivor

The pair had planned to form a support bubble and Mrs Thomas was due to move in with her daughter on 6 July.

But a local lockdown in Leicester meant the "opportunity to start a bubble [had] been dashed completely," the 58-year-old said.

Mrs Thomas, who lives alone after losing her husband to cancer, said she was lonely during lockdown with nobody to visit her and had felt her "life just ended altogether when the lockdown came in".

Mrs Teale was diagnosed in April 2019 and has had chemotherapy as well as surgical treatment.

The cancer, which has since spread into her bones, can be treated but not cured.