A woman from Accrington will spend months having her entire back tattooed to raise awareness of cancer in memory of loved ones.

Mum-of-four Lyndsay Keen will spend countless two-hour sessions in the tattoo artist's chair until the design, centering around a large pink ribbon, is completed.

In a few months’ time the finished work will see butterflies, lillies and hummingbirds stretching from her neck to her lower back.

Lyndsay, 44, made the decision in memory of her grandmother Edith Greenwood, 78, who died of stomach cancer, and the deaths this year of her aunt Christine Grimshaw, 58 to ovarian cancer, and her friend Jeanette Reagan to lung cancer.

She was inspired after hearing about Clayton-le-Moors tattooist Lee Moore who had designed special ribbon tattoos to raise cash and awareness for Cancer Research.

As well as signing up for regular sessions, Lyndsay has recruited 16 supporters to have ribbon tattoos completed at the Whalley Road tattoo parlour.

Lyndsay’s supporters, including her two daughters Lacey Bower, 20 and Devon Bower, 18, have chosen the smaller scale tattoos featuring pink ribbons.

Lyndsay, who lives in China Street, Accrington, said: “It will takes months to complete. We are not following a set design.

“They symbolise freedom and are for my grandma. She died 20 years ago and she suffered for 15 years before she died.

"My aunty and close friend died this year and many people have lost someone they love to cancer.”