• See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source

A breast cancer diagnosis in May last year turned her world upside down.

But former model Kate Tickle has had an astonishing turn of fortune – by landing her first Hollywood acting job. Ms Tickle, 42, was diagnosed with stage 1 HER2-positive breast cancer last year but is now clear of the illness.

After being cast in a forthcoming biopic of fashion legend Giorgio Armani, the Lake District-born actress told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Your dreams in life don’t have an expiry date, and your diagnosis doesn’t mean life is over.’

Describing how she came to be diagnosed, the mother-of-four said she had a dream that she could feel a lump. ‘The dream was so vivid, so I went to the doctors,’ she said.

‘They couldn’t feel a lump, but I did a mammogram, and that is when they discovered something was going on.’

Ms Tickle completed chemotherapy treatment in November. In June, she got the call that she had landed a role in Armani: The King Of Fashion – her first major movie.

She will play a personal assistant of Armani, who died from liver failure in September, aged 91.

While Ms Tickle has worked as a body double for actress Uma Thurman, and been a personal assistant to filmmaker Michael Winner, she has never before made it to Hollywood. The biopic is being led by Italian producer Andrea Iervolino, a friend of Ms Tickle’s husband, music producer David Tickle, 66.

Former model Kate Tickle was diagnosed with stage 1 HER2-positive breast cancer last year but is now clear of the illness

Ms Tickle, who once dated Gary Lineker, said she had Mr Iervolino to thank for the role. ‘When I told Andrea everything I had been through and how I wanted to inspire my four boys and anyone going through similar things, he wanted to make it happen,’ she said.

Ms Tickle said she was sharing her story in case it helps others.

‘I want other people who receive the news they have cancer, or any other life-changing circumstance, to keep believing there is life after treatment and joy after fear, and that they are stronger than they know,’ she said.

‘Don’t stop dreaming. Cancer may change your past, but it doesn’t have to take away your hopes for the future.’