Newcastle’s Brenda Beecham does not know how long she has to live, after being diagnosed earlier this year with incurable advanced bowel cancer.

But she is determined to spend her remaining time preventing others from suffering the same misfortune by raising awareness of the disease and how to catch it in its early stages.

Lady Beecham, 61, the wife of Sir Jeremy Beecham — former leader of Newcastle Council — recently made a special programme for BBC One’s Inside Out series, chronicling her experiences and using it to appeal to others to get tested.

She tells People: “I feel my cancer should have been diagnosed earlier. I have a history of cancer in my family and a lot of people aren’t aware of the genetics of bowel cancer. Lives can be spared if it’s picked up early.”

Lady Beecham now intends to make additional programmes for the BBC to spread the word, including one about the context in which doctors work.

She was a counsellor and life coach for more than 20 years, and is now also keen to make a series coaching people through later life and retirement, and to examine the social and psychological aspects of families with members who are terminally ill.