WHEN doctors told Hazel Smyth she had stage four cancer she felt like she was "looking death in the eye" and thought about planning her own funeral.

But the 45-year-old credits a packet of Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps and their "tangy" flavour for helping uncover she had the disease .

Hazel had noticed a stinging sensation on the right side of her tongue whenever she ate particularly flavoursome food such as Chinese chicken curry or prawn cocktail crisps.

The she put it down to a mild allergy or intolerance, since the pain would subside after 10 minutes.

But when the civil servant noticed she was experiencing discomfort when eating plain food such as chocolate or tomatoes, she sought the advice of her GP.

Two biopsies confirmed the presence of abnormal cells, before Hazel was given

See Full Page