Springwatch presenter Michaela Strachan has bravely shared her experience with breast cancer and the life-changing decision she made to have a double mastectomy. She’s been open about her ordeal, stating: “If it helps people I don’t mind talking about it.”
As she prepares for her appearance on ITV’s reality show Dancing on Ice on January 12, Michaela has considered her surgery when discussing costumes for the show, saying to the Daily Mail: “Obviously I’m very brave and all that,” but adding firmly “but I don’t want a tight top on my boobs, thanks very much.”
The wildlife expert was faced with a shocking diagnosis in February 2014 after what seemed like a routine mammogram turned serious.
Michaela says her diagnosis made her appreciate her life more ‘because I realise that something could have ended it early’
(Image: Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)
She describes how she became overwhelmed during the phone call from her doctor, managing to comprehend only fragments of the information being relayed: “The tears started to roll as my doctor tried to tell me what would happen next, but I only took in every fifth word or so.”
The gravity of the situation hit hard when one word stood out amidst her distress – “cancer”. Despite the small size of the lump and its early detection, a double mastectomy was recommended, reports Surrey Live.
Doctors told Michaela that because of her comparatively small bust a lumpectomy was not a viable option, and the lobular cancer’s risk of spreading meant that it was probably safest to remove her unaffected breast as well.
Michaela’s doctors told her that they recommended she have both breasts removed to stop the cancer from spreading
(Image: Getty Images)
Six weeks following that devastating phone call, Michaela was on the mend from her surgery. She acknowledges that the operation saved her life, but views a mastectomy as an especially harsh solution to the issue: “Surely there’s a better way of dealing with a tiny bit of cancer in a woman’s breast than chopping them off,” she comments.
“It seems brutal, doesn’t it? I hope it doesn’t have to be that way in 20 years’ time. It’s a hell of a thing to take a woman’s boobs off.”
The diagnosis seemed particularly cruel to Michaela as her partner, South African cameraman Nick Chevallier, had previously lost his wife to colon cancer – yet the couple still managed to find humour when she showed him the surgeon’s photos of her breasts marked up with a pen prior to the procedure.