HOLLYOAKS star Ali Bastian has been diagnosed with stage two breast cancer, leaving her in “total shock”.
The actress, who has also appeared on the BBC One series Doctors and took part in the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, found a lump when she was breast feeding her daughter Isabella.
The 42-year-old star is undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions and is set to undergo a mastectomy and radiotherapy treatment early next year.
She told OK! magazine: “It was a total shock. I have mornings when I wake up and I’ve forgotten… and then suddenly I remember. I’m still trying to process it.”
Initially, doctors believed it could be a blocked duct but after antibiotics failed to stop the soreness she had tests done at a specialist clinic that revealed she had cancer.
Her husband David O’Mahony said: “I was with the kids and Ali stuck her head round the door and said that cancerous cells had turned up in the biopsy.
“She said it in the most subtle way so the girls didn’t twig. I could see how scared and in shock she was.
“It’s so tempting to try and ‘positive’ your way through news like this but it just hit us like a sledgehammer.
“I just had a feeling of it being so unfair that Ali had been dealt this hand.”
Ali played the character of Becca Dean on the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks from 2001 to 2007.
She moved from London to rural Ireland with her husband and two daughters, Isla and Isabella earlier this year.
Ali revealed in an Instagram post she suffered “major burn out” due to her life in London and challenges following her second pregnancy being some of the reasons the family left the capital.
Ali received the devastating cancer news in June.
She is now receiving care from the Orchid Centre at Cork University Hospital.
Ali admitted she still sometimes feels “frightened” about the future but praised all the medical staff she’s met during the process.
She added the advice the nurses have given her has been help, along with keeping a journal of her experiences.
Ali said: “I feel like they’re treating me like one of their own.
Signs and symptoms
Stay alert to symptoms of breast cancer which include:
On its own, pain in your breasts is not usually a sign of breast cancer. But look out for pain in your breast or armpit that’s there all or almost all the time.
Although rare, men can get breast cancer. The most common symptom of breast cancer in men is a lump in the chest area.
Check your breasts
There’s no special way to check your breasts and you do not need any training. At Breast Cancer Now, they say, it’s as simple as TLC: Touch, Look, Check:
“It’s like I’ve been scooped up. I’ve been blown away by the care and kindness – every kind word and cup of tea means a lot.
“We love it here.”
Ali said her hair has started to fall out after beginning chemotherapy but she is just trimming it for now, with the help of David and hasn’t yet shaved it all off.
It is important to regularly check your breasts for any changes. Breast tissue reaches all the way up to your collarbone and across to your armpit, so it’s vital to check these areas too.
If you feel or see any changes in your breast you should always consult your GP.
Charity CoppaFeel! recommends checking your breasts monthly, so you can pick up on any changes quickly.
Breasts do change naturally as part of your monthly menstrual cycle, so you should get to know your breasts, how they feel and what changes they usually go through to know if anything is out of the ordinary.
Five-step check
There is a five-step self exam you can do at home to check for any changes.
Step one: Begin by looking in a mirror, facing it with your arms on your hips and your shoulders straight. You should be looking for any dimpling, puckering, bulging skin, redness, soreness, a rash or changes in the nipple.
Step two: Still looking in the mirror, raise both arms above your head and check for the same changes.
Step three: With your arms still above your head, check for any fluid coming from the nipples. This can include milky, yellow or watery fluid, or blood.
Step four: While lying down use your opposite hand to check each breast. Using a few fingers, keeping them flat and together, go in a small circular motion around your breasts. Make sure you feel the entire breast by going top to bottom in these small circles. It helps to develop a system or pattern to make sure every inch is covered. Use light pressure for the skin and tissue just beneath, medium pressure for the tissue in the middle of your breasts, and firm pressure to feel the tissue at the back, feeling down to your ribcage.
Step five: Feel your breasts while either standing or sitting, using the same small circular motions.
She added she did not like to refer to herself as being in a “battle” with cancer instead saying it is a process she needs to “adapt to”.
Ali praised her former Hollyoaks co-stars including Sarah Jayne Dunn, Carley Stenson and Jodi Albert, who also lives in Ireland, for rallying around and offering support.
She remains positive about the future and said she was looking forward to a return to acting once she is “out of the other side”.
