A pair of best pals who have supported each other through everything from the heartache of cancer to the joy of marriage are up for an award honouring them for their strength and courage.

Laura Holgate, of Southfield Road, Chiswick, and friend of ten years Emma Freeborne have been nominated for the Ultimate Friends category at Cosmopolitan magazine's Ultimate Women of the Year Awards.

It should have been the happiest time of their lives when Emma asked Laura, 31, to be her bridesmaid on getting engaged in 2005.

But tragedy struck in the midst of the wedding preparations when Emma, aged just 27, was diagnosed with breast cancer, with secondary cancer in her lymph nodes.

When Emma was told the NHS could not provide her with the breast cancer fighting drug Herceptin, Laura embarked on a campaign to get her friend the potentially lifesaving treatment. Emma appeared on BBC News 24 and in The Observer newspaper, and with the help of Laura's media knowledge won her battle to receive the treatment she needed.

After receiving the all clear Emma married her fiance in 2007, with Laura a proud bridesmaid.  But on returning from honeymoon, the pair faced fresh heartache after doctors found cancer in Emma's spine, and after an operation she now has to wear a back brace.

"Emma is such an amazing person," said Laura. "Her illness has made her very wise in a way."

The pair have also walked the Great Wall of China in March and organised charity balls which in total raised a massive s20,000 in a year.

Emma and Laura will find out if they have won at the star studded awards ceremony on November 5. Judges on this year's panel include TV presenter, Fearne Cotton, the Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown and singer Jamelia.