'I HIDE AWAY TO CRY'

Nadia Sawalha on the fragility of life, Loose Women friendships and turning 60

- GEMMA CALVERT

As well as being a Loose Women panellist, Nadia Sawalha runs a YouTube channel, hosts a cookery show with her elder sister Dina, plus a podcast, How To Stay Married (So Far), with her producer husband of 22 years, Mark Adderley. She's also writing a book and raising daughters, Maddie, 21, and Kiki-Bee, 16. With life so busy, it's little wonder the star is a dab hand at multitasking. When Woman's Own catches up with her, Nadia, 59, is on her way to Surrey's Royal Marsden Hospital to visit a close friend living with stage 4 incurable breast cancer.

Hannah Gardner, 37, was first diagnosed in 2013 and had a double mastectomy before the disease returned three more times, most recently in June 2022 when she learned she had hormone-positive, HER2-low breast cancer.

Heartbreakingly, Hannah - who has a three-year-old daughter - has been denied a medical lifeline after the first licensed targeted treatment for certain patients with secondary breast cancer was rejected with secondary breast cancer was rejected.

Although available in Scotland and many other countries, the drug - Enhertu - has been dubbed too expensive for NHS use in England. In a desperate bid to reverse the decision, Nadia, Hannah and their pals are putting pressure on the government.

Here, as she movingly opens up about Hannah's fight, Nadia explains why she *shudders' over her telly past and why she doesn't see certain Loose Women...

Well done for your efforts to get Enhertu approved on the NHS...