I've had my life back - I feel very blessed'

Sky News presenter Jacquie Beltrao on being cancer-free, turning 60 and her amazing career

- 

Jacquie Beltrao has faced some formidable challenges in her life - competing as a gymnast in the 1984 Olympics and interviewing some of sport's great stars.

IT WAS HARD NOT TO START PLANNING A FUNERALINSTEAD I WAS PLANNING A 60TH BIRTHDAY'

For the likeable, straight-talking Sky News presenter, none have been bigger, however, than the cancer battle she has fought for the last 12 years.

But Jacquie has just turned 60 - five years on from discovering she had stage 4 breast cancer after the doctors found the disease had spread to her legs and spine. It was a milestone she thought she would never make, yet thanks to a pioneering drug called Olaparib - often taken by ovarian cancer sufferers - she is fighting fit, has been cancer-free for nearly half a decade and welcomed in her seventh decade in style.

She tells OK!, “My 60th birthday was a big She tells OK!, “My 60th birthday was a big milestone. I’ve had my life back - I feel very blessed.” celebration. In some ways turning 60 can fill you with dread, sometimes you feel people can look at you differently, but there were days I never thought I would make it to this point given the severity of my cancer. But here I am.

“I feel truly blessed and I was ready to have a big party to celebrate life. I have always been a very positive person, trying to find the right mindset to approach life, but almost exactly five years ago when I was told my cancer had spread, it was very hard not to start planning a funeral.

“But instead, I was planning a 60th birthday. It’s wonderful to be able to say that.”