A Riddlesden woman who has battled against an agonising fragile bone disease is to raise awareness of the condition later this month.

Christine Sharp, who has experienced a long struggle against osteoporosis, will be running a stand providing information and advice on the illness.

The stand will operate from October 19 to 26 at the health centre in Oakworth Road, Keighley.

Mrs Sharp said Keighley MP Kris Hopkins had shown great interest in the campaign to tackle the illness, and would be visiting the stand at 1pm on Friday, October 19.

It is World Osteoporosis Day the next day.

Mrs Sharp said: “Osteoporosis is something we’ve not known much about until recently. It’s being taken more seriously because so many people are suffering from it now. It used to just be seen as a little old ladies’ disease.”

Mrs Sharp was forced to leave the job she loved because of her osteoporosis. She used to run Salon 75A, in Haworth Road, Bradford, but had to give up in 2009.

She now campaigns for the National Osteoporosis Society and has been selected to be a ‘patient expert’ by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Her role will see her representing the views of osteoporosis patients in relation to a medical treatment designed to tackle the disease.

She said the technique involved injecting a type of cement into the spine which was designed to strengthen collapsed vertebrae.