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Julia Bradbury took to Instagram on Tuesday to share several bikini-clad snaps from her ‘carefree’ summer holiday in Greece several years ago, revealing to her followers that she ‘had no idea’ she was about to be diagnosed with breast cancer.Â
The Countryfile presenter, 53, was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2021 and underwent a mastectomy to have her 6cm tumour removed.Â
Reflecting on her family holiday and how she was unaware at the time, Julia candidly opened up to her followers about her breast cancer diagnosis before urging them to check themselves.Â
Alongside the post, she wrote: ‘Sitting next to the pool in beautiful Greece surrounded by my family, I felt the lump under my left breast, which I’d identified and had checked out a year before.
She continued: ‘”Benign micro cysts.. nothing to worry about …keep an eye on it.” I went public with my scare to spread awareness about self checking. A lady emailed me and pleaded with me to watch out.
‘She’d had the same diagnosis and it had turned out to be cancer. But what could I do..? Mammograms and ultrasounds didn’t suggest anything sinister.
Julia Bradbury shared throwback bikini snaps on Tuesday from a ‘carefree’ summer holiday prior to her breast cancer diagnosis when she ‘thought I had nothing to worry about’Â
The Countryfile presenter, 53, was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2021 and underwent a mastectomy to have her 6cm tumour removed
Reflecting on her family holiday and how she was unaware at the time, Julia candidly opened up to her followers about her breast cancer diagnosis before urging them to check themselves
‘So I watched, felt and waited and went for more scans the following year – right before these photos were taken. I wasn’t unduly worried. I didn’t think I had cancer. I didn’t feel like I had cancer.
‘I was wrong. My dense breasts make my screenings more complicated (you can’t see cancerous tumours on mammograms) and increase my risk of breast cancer too.
‘Eventually after a final “lets just check” ultrasound I had a biopsy that within a week had confirmed my worst fear. The Big C.
‘I had excellent care, a life saving mastectomy to remove my left breast (one of the last photos here), and my new life began.’
Urging her followers to get themselves checked, she added: ‘I urge everyone to check themselves. Know your body. Take care of your health.
‘Cancer has changed my life. I move, eat, sleep and think differently. I’ve cut out alcohol and sugar. I’ve opened myself up to joy and the small things.
‘I have made positive changes for the good, to reduce my risks of recurrence, and to increase my chances of spending a full life with my children.
She concluded: ‘Don’t let a scary diagnosis like mine be your prompt. Our health is our wealth.’
She wrote: ‘Sitting next to the pool in beautiful Greece surrounded by my family, I felt the lump under my left breast, which I’d identified and had checked out a year before’
It comes after Julia recently broke down into tears as she recalled the heartbreaking moment she informed her husband, Gerard Cunningham, about her diagnosis.
Appearing on Davina McCall’s Begin Again podcast, Julia spoke about the moment she phoned her partner, whom she has been married to since 2000, to break the devastating news.
Julia said: ‘I told him, and we cried. And I said, “I’ll do whatever I have to do to get through this. I will do whatever it is”.’
Determined to fight, she expressed her readiness to face any challenge that may pop up ahead.
‘If I have to lose a breast, I’ll have to lose my hair. If I have to go, whatever it is I need to do,’ she said. ‘I’m going to do what I need to do to get through this.’
Julia said fighting cancer is not the same for everyone. She said:Â ‘Every type of cancer is different. Every type of breast cancer is different.
‘You’ll have a friend who’s gone through breast cancer, and she and I will sit down and have a story, and we’ll have had a different tumour in a different place, and it will behave differently.
‘It’s very complicated. And that’s the reason why the war on cancer hasn’t been won yet.’
Julia shares her son Zephyr, 13, and her twin girls, Xanthe and Zena, eight, with her property developer husband, Gerard. Â
In 2023, she spoke about her determination to ‘stay alive’ two years on from her breast cancer diagnosis.
The journalist and TV presenter had the tumour, two lymph glands and her left breast removed before having reconstruction surgery.
Julia has since revealed how her diagnosis changed her life, leading her to adopt a much healthier diet and go teetotal as she declared she will do everything possible to see her children grow up.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?
What is breast cancer?
It comes from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.
When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding tissue it is called ‘invasive’. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.
Most cases develop in those over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men, though this is rare.
Staging indicates how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast-growing. High-grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.
What causes breast cancer?
A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply ‘out of control’.
Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance, such as genetics.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign.Â
The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
- Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
- Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under a microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.
If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest X-ray.
How is breast cancer treated?
Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.
- Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
- Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focused on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops them from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
- Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying.
- Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.
How successful is treatment?
The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.
The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 71 means more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
For more information visit breastcancernow.org or call its free helpline on 0808 800 6000
