Sarah gets to No. 10

CHERIE BLAIR was so moved by Sarah Kelly's breast cancer battle that she invited her to No. 10 for tea. Britain's First Lady arranged to meet the Guernseywoman and husband Ged at Downing Street when the couple were in London for her treatment.

It followed a heartfelt letter that Mr Kelly slipped to her SAS guards after discovering Mrs Blair was staying at the same hotel as them in Jersey last summer.

'I knew that Cherie Blair was patron of the Breast Cancer Care charity and wanted to share our story,' he said.

'It was midway through Sarah's treatment and I had taken her to Longueville Manor as a special treat because she was feeling very down. We both were.

'The next stage was six weeks' radiotherapy treatment at London's Royal Marsden Hospital and I wanted to give Sarah something that would help take her mind off things while she was there and missing the kids.'

Mr Kelly, 42, a partner at marketing company Hamilton Brooke, decided to quickly pen a note to Mrs Blair about his wife's plight. 'I've been cheeky all my life so I thought it was worth a try.

'I told Cherie that my wife was only 37 and we had two young daughters. I thought that, as a mother herself, she would understand.'

A few weeks later, an invite arrived from Downing Street. They were treated to a full tour behind the famous black front door before chatting and posing for pictures with a smiling Cherie.

'She was lovely,' said Mrs Kelly, who is now on the road to recovery.

'She didn't have to go to all that trouble, as she was clearly very busy.

'But she was genuinely supportive, asking how I was and how I felt. It was all very upbeat too and she seemed great fun. The visit really helped take my mind off things.'

Sadly, they failed to bump into the Prime Minister on the stairs.

'We hadn't been expecting to see him but, even so, Cherie was very apologetic that Tony couldn't come down to meet us,' said Mr Kelly.

'She told us he had had to take a very important phone call upstairs.'