I feel so very LUCKY

Property expert and TV presenter Sarah Beeny talks to us about her breast cancer journey

- ALISON JAMES

It goes without saying that cancer is something we all want to avoid but, for Sarah Beeny, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in August last year, finding out when she did was something to be grateful for.

 

"All my life, I'd lived in particular fear of being told I had breast cancer as my mother passed away from the disease - which then spread to her brain - when I was 10 years old," she says. "She was 39. I always assumed that I, too, would receive a diagnosis. But so many advances have been made since my mum's diagnosis. Having cancer has made me stop fearing the disease in a way. It's forced me to lift the lid on the thing and just kind of face it, rather than fear it. If it's caught early, it's no longer the death sentence people used to think it was. I feel extremely lucky that I was diagnosed in 2022. Also, very lucky in that it hadn't spread anywhere else."

It's undoubtedly been a tough year for Sarah (51), though. Her treatment involved undergoing a double mastectomy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Happily, she received the "all clear" a couple of months ago but says she will always be on her guard.

"Technically speaking it means my treatment's finished and that there is no more cancer," she explains. "It's a bit like, 'so far, so good!' Hopefully, it is the end but I'll always have to be vigilant. Have regular check-ups, take certain drugs for a very long time and contact my doctors again if I suspect it might have come back."