Ngahuia's Cancer Scare I Found A Lump In My Breast

The Shorty star was too scared to act

- Ellen Mackenzie

On the very same day Shortland Street star Ngahuia Piripi was shooting a scene about another character’s close call with breast cancer, the actress was in the midst of a frightening real-life cancer scare.

After she finished filming that afternoon, the Maori beauty – who plays nurse Esther Samuels on the long-running soap – secretly headed to hospital for an ultrasound to find out whether a lump on her right breast was cancerous.

“It was terrifying,” reveals Ngahuia, speaking exclusively to Woman’s Day. “You never think something like this is going to happen to you, but then it does.”

The 27-year-old found the lump by chance earlier this year when she rolled over in bed. Despite the fact that some of her grandmother’s relatives are cancer survivors, the bubbly brunette thought she was far too young to be concerned about cancer, but when the lump failed to disappear, her worries began to grow.

“I thought I needed to get it checked out, but I was so scared about it, I didn’t do anything,” tells Ngahuia. “I went to see one of the nurses at work and her advice was that if I had found a lump, to get it checked ASAP, but I still didn’t. I was so convinced it was just going to go away.”