A Falmouth woman with an incurable lung condition which kills more people a year than leukaemia held an awareness raising cake sale at the Dracaena Centre this morning (2/10).

Ann Bennett, 72, who has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), organised the event ahead of IPF week next week, and arranged it to follow a regular fitness class which she takes to slow down the progress of the disease.

Ann was diagnosed with IPF, an illness which causes scarring of the lungs and kills more than 5,000 people a year, in 2014 and has since campaigned to raise awareness and improvement in localised services for condition across the UK.

She is part of the support group Breathe Falmouth, and takes part in a regular exercise class called Move2bewell which helps control her condition, as well as recently having completed the Mawnan Fun Run.

Ann said: "It's a dreadful and progressive disease, and there's just no money for research.

"The fact is we're actually making people aware. All the children have had a cake and a balloon and a sticker, and hopefully people have picked up some of our literature."

Her exercise teacher Mel Williams said: "Ann's doing really well, and that helps with her IPF. She does all the classes with a pack [of equipment that helps her breathe] which weighs two kilograms, so in fact she works harder than the rest of us."

She added: "I think it’s really important to highlight the desperate need for integrated local services. Many people don’t even know that they can be referred to a specialist, those that do may have to travel for miles just to see someone. I want to help change that so that everyone has the same access to care. "

Anyone can get involved with IPF week by following on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #ICareAboutIPF, or texting ‘IPF’ to 70500 to donate £5 to help the BLF fight the growing impact of IPF on the UK’s health.