A heartbreaking conversation between good friends led to a dad-of-three later discovering he had cancer.

Rob McMeeking was motivated to see his GP after learning mum-of-three Ali Eddy had been diagnosed with an incurable form of the disease following a routine health check.

Weeks later tests showed Rob, from Bladbean, near Canterbury, also had cancer, but it had been caught early enough for surgeons to operate.

Ali, 50, finds some comfort in the fact her experience led to her friend securing a timely diagnosis, but her outlook sadly remains bleak.

She says her “world fell apart” in November when she was diagnosed with stage 4 thymic carcinoma - a rare and aggressive cancer of the chest - following a women’s health check.

Despite chemotherapy, the tumour has continued to grow, wrapping around her heart and spreading to her sternum and ribs.

But doctors have stressed there are options for treatment and the tumour has shrunk by 50%.

“It is incurable and inoperable,” said the medical secretary, who lives in Bridge, near Canterbury.

“Everyone always asks the question ‘how long have you got?’, and I wouldn’t want to say because of my kids.

“I’m really well at the moment, but it is a ticking timebomb.

“I am totally positive because you’ve got to live life. It makes you so grateful for everything you have.”

Veterinarian Rob says he booked a men’s health check “as a consequence” of his friend’s diagnosis.

“My prostate-specific antigen was a little raised and the GP said ‘it’s nothing to worry about, but it needs checking’,” the 52-year-old said.

“I was referred to a urologist, who is Ali’s husband, Ben.

“I had tests and then had an MRI, which raised an area of suspicion, so I needed a biopsy.”

Medics discovered cancer, which was thankfully deemed to be the lowest grade, and Rob underwent surgery in March.

The operation was successful and the tumours were removed, which Rob says “couldn’t have been a better-case scenario”.

He has now stressed the importance of being open about your health.

“I think for men and a prostate, which is hidden and associated with an area of the body that is uncomfortable to talk about, it is important to speak about it,” he added.

“It’s also important to have friends like Ali.”

Ali, who feared she would not live to see her 50th birthday, which she celebrated recently, says there is a lack of research into her rare cancer.

“The treatment I have now is the same as about 40 years ago,” she said.

“There aren’t enough patients to make effective studies because you need volumes of people to notice the trends and see the results.

“We are such a rare breed it is not out there.”

To help support Cancer Research UK, Ali and Rob’s children organised a 24-hour danceathon at a barn in Bladbean on Tuesday and raised more than £11,000. Here is the link to the fundraiser.

Rob said: “Cancer is such a scary word.

“What they’ve done by organising this is given themselves control over the situation.

“We have two children at university and it felt like it was out of their hands and they couldn’t even give me a hug.”

Ali added of the pair’s children: “They were pretty devastated when both of our diagnoses came through. It gave them a bit more of a focus.

“They have all had each other during a scary time.”