Michaela Strachan has revealed how her cancer battle changed her outlook on life as she opened up about her diagnosis a decade later.
The Springwatch presenter, 60, was diagnosed with breast cancer over a decade ago at the beginning of 2014 and went on to make a full recovery after undergoing a double mastectomy and later reconstructive surgery.
Reflecting on her battle with the illness she told The Mirror: ‘Since having cancer, I see every minute as a gift. I’m like, “Yay!”.’
Sharing her gratitude, the TV star explained she is thankful for her health, her career and her family.
Her son Ollie, 19, is currently at Loughborough University, and she has three stepchildren and two grandchildren.
Michaela is also in a long term relationship with her partner Nick Chevallier, but she confessed she has no desire to tie the knot.
Michaela Strachan, 60, has revealed how her breast cancer battle changed her outlook on her life and why she has no plans to marry her partner of 20 years (pictured in March)
Michaela is also in a long term relationship with her partner Nick Chevallier, and explained she thinks the relationship has lasted due to their time apart (pictured with Nick and her son Ollie)
Revealing the secret to the longevity of their relationship she explained: ‘Maybe the secret is that we are apart a lot. We don’t get on each other’s nerves as much as maybe we would do if we were together all the time.’
The pair live in Cape Town together, but Michaela is often over in the UK for work.
She continued: ‘We’re not married. I don’t really see the need, plus it’s an awful lot of expense. I always miss my family when I’m away but I’ve been doing this job for a long time now.’
Back in May Michaela opened up about her double mastectomy, describing the procedure as ‘extremely brutal’.
Discussing the emotional toll the ‘archaic’ procedure took on her, revealing she hopes in 50 years a better method of treatment will have been found.
Speaking to host Vanessa Feltz on her Channel 5 show Vanessa, the wildlife expert said: ‘My boobs were never a big part of my personality, but when they said they were going to take them away, they suddenly became more important than I thought they were.
‘It’s hard, you go through these things and you think you’re going to be fine and it’s not until afterwards that you realise emotionally it’s a big thing.
‘I really hope that in 50 years time we look back at removing a woman’s boobs as part of the treatment as archaic because there must be a better way.’
She continued: ‘We’re not married. I don’t really see the need, plus it’s an awful lot of expense. I always miss my family when I’m away but I’ve been doing this job for a long time now’ (pictured with Springwatch co-host Chris Packham)
Michaela was asked by Vanessa whether the procedure is ‘too brutal’, to which she replied: ‘It’s brutal!
‘To take a woman’s breasts away is brutal. Of course, I’d rather not have boobs and be here than have them and be worried that cancer is going to come back.
‘But it just seems extremely brutal.’
She too spoke to the host about recovering from her double mastectomy, a procedure which almost 15,000 women in the UK undergo every year.
‘It’s a six week recovery from the mastectomy and six weeks when you have the reconstruction,’ she said.
‘There’s lots of physio exercises that you do but, you know what, I’m in the position now where it’s eleven years later and I forget that I’ve had a mastectomy.
‘I really want to encourage people to talk about it. It seems like such a massive thing at the time and I remember asking someone at the time, “When will I stop thinking about it every day?”
‘Now, day-to-day, I forget that I ever had breast cancer. I was really lucky.’
