Her brave battle against her illness and her years of service to the Maitland City Choir have landed her a nomination for the 2009 Maitland Citizen of the Year award to be presented at a ceremony in Maitland Park on Australia Day.

Mrs Langman has been a member of the choir, which practices at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in East Maitland weekly, since it started 21 years ago and is now the only original member.

“When I left Maitland Girls High School we combined our school choir with the Maitland Boys High School choir and continued our love for singing,” Mrs Langman said.

“I started in the alto section, then I was a junior accompaniment, conductor and at the moment I’m the president.”

Mrs Langman, who has lived in Maitland all her life, worked as a sales assistant at Latham’s music in Kotara up until May last year when her illness forced her to take things a little slower.

“I’m now a full-time mother with three children,” Mrs Langman said.

“I also teach piano privately as well as early childhood music.

“The choir is more special now because I can still do it and it doesn’t take as much out of me physically since being diagnosed.

“It helps me stay active without the load that full-time work brings, which I was struggling with because of the illness.

Mrs Langman, whose nomination came from choir members, said the honour of being nominated took her by surprise, but she played down her chances of winning the award.

“It’s the first time I’ve been nominated and a lot of it is because of Helen Lee, who is a member of the choir,” Mrs Langman said.

“I can’t believe they thought of me but I don’t rate my chances of winning.

“I love helping the community and I love being in the choir.

“If I didn’t do these things I wouldn’t know what to do.”