BBC journalist Victoria Derbyshire’s life was turned upside down in 2015 when she received a breast cancer diagnosis.
The I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here star underwent a single mastectomy that September, followed by eight months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Victoria, 52, recorded her ordeal in a searingly honest video diary, which covered everything from the burns and bruises from her treatment through to the loss of her hair.
She also shared her darkest fears with viewers – namely that the cancer would return and she wouldn’t get to see her sons Oliver, 15, and Joe, 13, grow up.
“I am sure this is completely normal for anyone who has ever had a cancer diagnosis, but I am thinking about what if this cancer comes back,” she told the camera.
“Obviously I never, ever wanted this to happen. I never want to go through chemotherapy again, ever.
“I just do not want it to come back. I don’t know why this is in my head today, I don’t know what the reason is, I can’t think of anything rational, but it’s there.
“I just want this to have been a blip so I just get on with my life, my kids’ life, my partner’s life and my future. But I can’t.”
(Image: BBC/PA)
After her treatment ended, Victoria was put on tamoxifen tablets – a hormonal therapy drug – for the next 10 years in a bid to attempt to stop the disease coming back.
Victoria – who married long-time partner Mark Sandall in 2018 – also opened up about the first moment she realised something wasn’t right with her breast.
Waiting for the kettle to boil before work at 4.15am on Monday, July 27, 2015, the star told how she stood there googling ‘inverted nipple’.
“There are several explanations, but I instantly stop reading. BREAST CANCER,” she wrote in her 2017 book Dear Cancer, Love Victoria:
“I might have cancer. I am not being dramatic, hysterical, irrational, foolish. I actually might have cancer.
(Image: ITV)
“My mind races. I can’t bear not to be with these three most important people in my life. I can’t bear not to be there alongside Mark as my children Oliver, 11 and Joe, eight, mature and flourish.
“My bright, funny, affectionate boys, who are never embarrassed to say ‘love you, Mummy’ – and say it 10 times a day.”
She booked an appointment with her GP but explained that she already knew what the diagnosis would be during the five-day wait for confirmation.
“One in eight women will have a breast cancer diagnosis over the course of their lifetime. I didn’t use to check myself. I didn’t have a lump. My right side collapsed a bit and I knew it wasn’t right. And within a week it was diagnosed as breast cancer,” she told Good Morning Britain.
“At that moment there was a profound shift in my life.
“The reason I didn’t check myself was because a the invincibility thing and you’re busy’ you forget. We know if you find something early your chances of survival are increased immeasurably. Just do it.”
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* I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here stars Sunday, November 15 at 9pm on ITV.
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/im-celeb-victoria-derbyshires-subtle-22997646