A Bushey mum whose dramatic weight loss revealed she had cancer is gearing up for a 100 kilometre charity night bike ride.

Mum-of-two Alexis Boo used to weigh more than 17 stone and said if she hadn’t lost nearly a third of her body weight, she might not have found the cancer in her kidney until it was too late.

The 38-year-old from Vernon Road said: "I started losing weight in May 2012 and after a while, started suffering with stomach pains.

"I had lost six stone and after some investigation I discovered a cancerous tumour in my kidney.

"Had I not had lost the weight, I would have just put the pains down to poor diet and eating too much and may not have got the pains checked out as early as I did.

"After having the tumour removed I made a pledge that I wasn’t going to just maintain my weight but I wanted to get fit too and decided I would do that by entering into some charitable events."

Alexis, who has dropped five dress sizes in the last two years, is taking part in the first women-only night ride to raise funds to fight breast, cervical and ovarian cancers. She will tackle the gruelling 100 kilometre cycle through London on Saturday, May 31.

Alexis has been training for the race but said her biggest challenge will be staying awake - as she’s usually in bed by 10pm.

She said: "It hasn’t been easy to fit time in for training as I have two young children and a busy life running a weight management company.

"I invested in a high intensity spinning bike at home and have been ensuring I maintain a real balance with my food intake."

Alexis has already raised £600 for charity by taking part in various fitness charity events over the last year.

She said it’s been a real change of pace for someone who never used to exercise.

She said: "I had never been into exercise, had never run before in my life, not even for the bus.

"So exercise was a challenge for me. I did my first ever event in May 2013 - a 5k race for life and then I decided to keep pushing the boundaries and upping the ante.

"I then did the British 10k in July 2013 and the Reading Half Marathon in March 2014.

"The bike ride is my next big challenge."

But she won’t stop there. Alexis hopes to raise more and has already entered into Cardiff half marathon in October 2014.