A BODY positive beauty pageant contender and keen fundraiser who beat cancer, defied doctors after she was told she would never walk again and climbed two of the UK’s highest mountains in 24 hours will compete in the Ms GB final in September.
Debbie-Louise Bates, originally from North Grange Avenue, Prestonpans, now resides in Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent with her fiancé Michael and her three sons Jacob, 18, Alfie, 16, and Harry, 11.
The 38-year-old will compete in the UK’s oldest and most prestigious pageant, Miss Great Britain, at an event in Leicester in September.
The English specialist teacher at Congleton High School will compete in the Ms GB section of the competition, a category introduced to the Miss Great Britain pageant in 2020 for women aged between 28 and 39.
Debbie-Louise said: “I am honoured to be a part of a pageant that promotes equality, diversity, body positivity and female empowerment.
“I have been through quite devastating life experiences like cancer and those situations really knocked my confidence. I took a real hit for a while so I thought this would be a good way to celebrate and spread a positive message.
“It’s important to me to show my students no matter how vulnerable you are, you can be confident.”
The ambassador for Girls Out Loud, a social enterprise dedicated to raising the aspirations of teenage girls in the UK, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2015 at the age of 32.
Debbie-Louise said: “Before the diagnosis, I was fit as a fiddle with no health issues. Then I felt an ache in my back and I was unsure what it was – my mum continued to tell me to go to the doctors, so I did.
“I think they knew right away because they sent me for scans quickly and the next day I received the sinister news.”
Two weeks after her diagnosis, Debbie-Louise was taken into hospital to have her kidney removed.
She added: “I felt somewhat lucky because I didn’t have any chemotherapy or radiation but it was life-changing.
“I was told it was an ‘old man cancer’ and it took me a while to move on from it, but I decided to look at the positives.”
Debbie-Louise is nearly six years into complete remission but still goes for regular scans and check-ups, which make her “very anxious”.
Following her recovery, the beauty queen shattered her foot in an accident at a trampoline park and was told by doctors that she “would never walk properly again”.
The horrific injury, which caused several fractured bones and severe ligament damage, left Debbie-Louise with a foot full of extensive metal work.
After months of physiotherapy, she defied the odds and returned to wearing high heels just 16 months later.
In May, Debbie-Louise laced up her walking boots to take part in the National Three Peaks Challenge alongside Michael Taylor, Daz Pearl and Kerry Peart.
Considered one of Britain’s toughest outdoor challenges, it involves scaling the highest mountains in each of Scotland, England and Wales – Ben Nevis (1,344m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Snowdon (1,085m) – in 24 hours.
Debbie-Louise climbed two out of the three but could not reach the summit of Snowdon due to complications with her foot injury.
In total, the walkers raised £2,451 for Cancer Research UK and Alex’s Wish, both Miss Great Britain’s 2021 charities of choice.
Debbie-Louise is now focusing on her own school project, ‘The Positivity Club’.
She has a positivity and self-love wall in her classroom and encourages students to take a positive affirmation each day.
She added: “One positive thought can really change their mood.
“I also run the after school club once a week and I hope to visit other schools at the start of the new academic year.”
The avid fundraiser continues to visit East Lothian regularly to see “her biggest supporter in life”, her grandmother Lucy Toal, who lives in Prestonpans.
Debbie-Louise said: “I would love to win the Ms GB pageant for my lovely granny.
“She is the most glamorous woman in the world, even when she’s not feeling her best.
“She always has her jewels, her pearls, her best clothes on and I think I probably take after her.
“I love her so much and I love her positive outlook on life.”
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