THEY’RE sweating their socks off on the treadmill, but these people aren’t complaining.

Both are fighting back against cancer, and doing it by attending weekly exercise classes at Colchester General Hospital.

The Cancer Exercise Group, set up by physiotherapists this time last year, has become a key part of many patients’ battle with fatigue – one of the main side effects of cancer and its treatment.

People who are referred either attend ten, one-hour sessions once a week in the hospital’s physiotherapy gym, or exercise at home and keep a diary.

Patients who attend the gym sessions enjoy a range of activities, including using a rowing-machine, treadmill and exercise bike and lifting weights.

One of those who has reaped the benefits of the sessions is Met Police officer, Angela Fairbrother.

She said: “I was referred after I had breast cancer, as a way of building my stamina and fitness. It has been quite nice meeting other people who know what I have gone through.

“The staff are great, and work out a really good programme for you to follow so you gradually do more and more each week. It is tailored according to what is wrong with you.”

Angela, 46, from Colchester, was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, and had a lump removed from her breast.

She had another operation when it was discovered the cancer had spread.

She finished her course of chemotherapy last August, and is now gradually getting back to full health, which has seen her return to work in the police force for four hours a day.

Pub landlord Mike Blackmore is another regular at the class. He is undergoing chemotherapy for chronic myeloid leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells.

After being diagnosed last year, Mike, 59, had to cut back on work behind the bar at Colchester’s New Town Tavern, but is finding the exercise classes a great help. He said: “I’ve been coming for a few months. I found with the treatment I got really tired.

“I was OK one minute and then it just hit you, but that’s improving slowly.”

Eileen Staples, 63, from Ardleigh, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s follicular lymphoma about two years ago and has undergone eight sessions of chemotherapy.

She explained: “The tiredness is what brought me here – this is hopefully to give us a bit more energy.

“What you think is a simple job, like doing the gardening, just attacks you with the tiredness.”

The service began when the Colchester Myeloma Support Group contacted the hospital’s physiotherapy department after hearing about a similar programme in London.

Kate Patience, specialist oncology physiotherapist, said: “After doing some research, we set up the Cancer Exercise Group and since then have helped people with cancer ranging in age from 17 up to 70 plus.

“After a patient is referred, we see them for a one-to-one assessment, to make sure they are well enough to exercise, ask them what their goals are and set up a programme tailored to their individual needs.

“After a period of ten weeks, we aim to refer the patient to the Life Enhancing Activity Programme at Colchester Leisure Centre, or to a higher intensity exercise programme we run at the hospital for people – not just cancer patients – who want to return to work.”

Those who prefer not to attend classes, but exercise at home, are visited once a month by a physiotherapist who checks on their progress.

At the end of each Friday session, patients also learn relaxation techniques, which they say helps them to cope with the emotional stress.