'This Morning' agony aunt Deidre Sanders' cancer has returned.
This Morning agony aunt Deidre Sanders' cancer has returned
The 78-year-old star first told she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022, and she now requires a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy, after her returning cancer was discovered during an annual routine mammogram check-up.
Speaking on 'This Morning' to co-hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, she said: "Unfortunately, I've got to have a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy. I feel lucky, it's been caught early and the treatment is happening very rapidly."
Despite her cancer returning, Deidre admitted she feels "so lucky" because it has been caught early and it could've been "so much worse".
She said: "This is all on the NHS so I think I am so lucky. It could be so much worse.
"To be honest, the symptoms I had the first time were a coincidence and not actually a symptom of the cancer as it turns out."
Deidre revealed she hadn't been feeling "run down" or had any other symptoms, and it was "purely down to having the mammogram" that the alarm was raised.
She explained: "I haven't had symptoms, I haven't felt run down.
"I haven't felt tired. I hadn't had any discomfort. If I did a self check I couldn't feel anything because it's so tiny there is nothing to feel.
"It's purely down to having the mammogram that showed it.
"And then you get referred back and I had a biopsy, and then it revealed it was cancer."
The NHS offers mammograms to women over the age of 70, but they are not automatically invited for them.
But those aged between 50 and 70 are invited for breast screening every three years.
Deidre has urged women over 70 to request regular mammograms.