A Slough mum discovered she had breast cancer - after she had a picture taken by a thermal imaging camera at a tourist attraction.

Bal Gill, 41, was visiting Camera Obscura and World of Illusions during a holiday in Edinburgh.

Its Thermal Camera feature, which was installed in 2009, lets visitors see a visual of all their body hot spots.

But Bal saw her picture showed a red heat patch on her left breast - although no one else in the thermal imaging room had the patch.

She went to her doctor and was later diagnosed with breast cancer.

Bal said: "I visited with my family in May 2019 during the school holidays. We had been to Edinburgh Castle and on the way down we saw the museum. While making our way through the floors we got to the thermal imaging camera room. As all families do, we entered and started to wave our arms and look at the images created. While doing this I noticed a heat patch (red in colour) coming from my left breast. We thought it was odd and having looked at everyone else they didn't have the same. I took a picture and we carried on and enjoyed the rest of the museum.

"A few days later when we returned home I was flicking through my pictures and I saw the image. At this point I searched on Google to see what this could mean and I saw a lot of articles about breast cancer and thermal imaging cameras.

"I made an appointment with the doctor and as it turns out I do have breast cancer, thankfully really early stages. I have now had two surgeries and have one to go to prevent it from spreading.

"I just wanted to say thank you: without that camera I would never have known. I know it's not the intention of the camera but for me it really was a life-changing visit."

Andrew Johnson, general manager of Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, said: "We did not realise that our Thermal Camera had the potential to detect life-changing symptoms in this way.

"We were really moved when Bal contacted us to share her story as breast cancer is very close to home for me and a number of our team."