NOT AFRAID TO DERAM

When Rachael Whiting, 32, from East Sussex, turned up to collect her kids from school, she certainly gave the other mums the fright of their lives...

Rushing to the mirror, whilst throwing on a big coat, I knew the clock was ticking.

Putting my makeup brushes down, and staring at the chaos I had created, I only had one thought.

I can’t do the school run like this, can I?

Looking at my reflection, my natural face wasn’t staring back at me, but the infamous Halloween character Freddy Krueger was there instead!

It was a scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street.

And in all honesty, I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to turn up to the playground dressed as a horror character – but I didn’t have a choice.

I wasn’t going to wipe all of my hard work off just to go and get Sonny, eight, and Charlie, nine, from school – it wasn’t like they hadn’t seen me with fake blood before.

Plus, it wasn’t the first time a movie star had turned up to the school gates.

Dobby from Harry Potter had been shopping for bananas and milk in our local Tesco, and the Grinch made a special arrival to the playground, too.

‘Oh my God!’ one of the mums shouted, laughing.

‘How the hell did you do that?’ said another.

The thought of being able to create the most intricate and sensational looks, with my face as the blank canvas, was a perfect idea.

And if anything, transforming myself into different characters was a distraction from what was going on in my life.

Being diagnosed with cancer at 22, my brother Luke, needed me. Plunging into