This Morning's Deidre Sanders gives update on breast cancer diagnosis as she awaits results
Beloved This Morning agony aunt Deidre Sanders has provided a health update weeks after revealing her cancer had returned after two years. As she joined the show for a phone in today, Tuesday 22 October, the 79-year old told hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley she has “everything crossed” after undergoing surgery.
On Tuesday morning’s show, the star shared: "I'm so fine. I feel like a bit of a phony because I don't feel like anything wrong with me. I had brilliant surgery and treatment on the NHS. I'm not even having to take any painkillers. I'll find out the results on whether they've actually got it all out in a couple of weeks time. 1 in 4 lumpectomy's do have to have more surgery but I've got everything crossed and I was told it was a tiny tiny cancer so I'm optimistic,” she said.
The star first announced she had been diagnosed in September 2022, in a conversation with former hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. At the time, she told them: "I think people panic at the word cancer often, and they can be scared of even going to a doctor with their initial worry because they're terrified of getting a diagnosis, even though getting the diagnosis is what leads to treatment. We can be so scared about that word so I am really happy to bring it out into the open."
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Earlier this month, Deidre shared that her cancer had returned, which she had found out during a mammogram. "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," she said announcing she will be having surgery this month,” she told Cat and Ben. "If I did a self check, I couldn't feel anything because it was too small to feel," she said, confirming her diagnosis was purely down to the mammogram.
The agony aunt then urged women to get checked, before thanking her family and loved ones for their support. "Your automatic call for mammograms every three years stops when you're 70, and I think I got a letter a couple of years later and I looked online and I thought, 'ohhhh I'll be fine'... that was a big mistake to think that," she said.
Deidre emphasised the importance of screenings: "And what I want to say to women over 70, you've got a right to request a mammogram so please request it. You can have a free mammogram every three years and it's so worthwhile."
