Mrs Pat Lord (64), who opened Pat's Pantry in 1994, was given the shocking news in March, a day before her birthday. She had already planned to retire from the Burnley Road eaterie, but has been in Royal Blackburn Hospital since her birthday fighting the illness.

Mr Granville Lord, of Guy Street, said his wife was being very brave and they were looking for the positives.

"We were both obviously really upset and shocked when we found it," he said. "But we're only thinking positive thoughts and hopefully we will soon be seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

"Pat had decided she was going to retire before Christmas. We decided we wanted to relax a bit more and go on more holidays together. She started getting poorly though and we didn't know what it was. When she was diagnosed we just couldn't believe. It's horrible just waiting around. Waiting is the hardest thing to do but that is all we can do at the minute. We are waiting for test results to come back and hopefully then we will know what the options are."

Pat's Pantry has been in Burnley Road since 2002. The couple, who were Padiham's Mayor and Mayoress in the same year, are well-known in and around the area and Mr Lord said he had been overwhelmed by messages of support.

"The support has just been fantastic," he said. "I just want to thank everybody for all their support and well-wishes. To go in and see Pat every day and tell her about all the people that have been asking about her gives her so much strength. It's not been nice coming home to an empty house but the messages of support and phone calls have made me feel like I'm not alone. I know that this is a brilliant community but they have really excelled themselves this time."

The couple have been married for 37 years and Mr Lord said he was looking to spend plenty more time with is wife. "Pat retired so we could go on more holidays and we're going to make sure we go away together this year," he said.