Girls Aloud race for late Sarah Harding in Hyde Park

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Hundreds of people, including three members of Girls Aloud, gathered in Hyde Park to take part in a memorial run for Sarah Harding.

The singer, 39, died in September, a year after revealing she had breast cancer.

Bandmates Nicola Roberts, Cheryl and Nadine Coyle were at the Race For Life For Sarah, a 5k Cancer Research run.

A huge pink-clad crowd took part in London, and others, including Kimberley Walsh, joined in remotely.

Cheryl, who now uses a mononym and was previously known with the surnames Tweedy, Cole and Fernandez-Versini, has said she still cannot quite believe the death of her bandmate.

Sarah Harding

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She said: “It doesn’t feel like she’s gone at all. To be honest, I’ve never experienced or anticipated this grief.

“You know, I’ve lost grandparents when I was younger and I lost a friend when I was younger but nothing like this, the feeling of shock and disbelief and it still lingers now to be honest. I still can’t quite believe it’s real.”

Nicola Roberts, Cheryl, Nadine Coyle

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Nicola Roberts spoke of Harding’s “electric” personality: “Sarah’s energy was like a firework so I feel like that huge difference in energy when she’s not there.

“I think that for us right now, we don’t feel like Girls Aloud. We don’t feel like a band without Sarah. She, like I said just now, she was such a huge part of our energy that it doesn’t feel like that.”

Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle on stage at the Race for Life

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How can you spot breast cancer?

The most common sign of breast cancer is a lump or thickening in the breast – but there are other symptoms too.

They include:

  • Change in size or feel of the breast
  • Changes in the skin of the breast, such as dimpling or redness
  • Fluid leaking from the nipple, outside of pregnancy or breast feeding
  • Change in position of the nipple

These symptoms can be caused by other conditions, so it is important to get any lumps or changes checked by a doctor.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with women over 50 more at risk than the under-40s.

But there are many other factors that can increase a person’s risk, including a family history of cancer and being overweight.

Many treatments are available for breast cancer and survival is generally good if the disease is detected early.

Girls Aloud performing in 2013

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Nadine Coyle said she was “in denial” about bandmate Sarah Harding’s illness: “This time last year we were actually hanging out.

“We all met up last year. She was there and we were talking and she didn’t even seem that sick.

“I was in denial the entire time and was the friend that was ‘Oh, it’s gonna be all right’, you know, I was completely in denial right up until the day she passed.”

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