WHEN Alison Marvan’s aorta burst she thought her time was up.

Already battling a tumour in her spine, her condition had a knock on effect on her internal organs and caused a hole in the largest artery in the human body.

“Doctors say when something like that happens you have minutes to live. I was lucky,” says Alison, 48, from Larksfield Crescent in Dovercourt.

The life threatening incident happened after Alison’s second operation in a week to remove the tumour in 1999 - she was aged just 33.

Alison, who works at the Original Factory Shop, has been recovering now since 2006 but has walked on cruches for eight years.

She now been named as a finalist in the Inspirational Woman of the Year by the Standard’s sister paper The Gazette.

Her son, Danny, 21, who nominated her, says she has managed all her suffering with dignity and without complaint.