BBC presenter Julia Bradbury is now cancer-free after being diagnosed in 2021, and described how the tragic diagnosis turned her life around completely
Countryfile star Julia Bradbury has reflected on her cancer diagnosis and how it changed her life completely.
Julia, 54, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, and had a mastectomy to remove a 6cm tumour, allowing her to thankfully become cancer-free. The star revealed that the life-changing experience altered her outlook completely – and ultimately taught her how to live better.
“The reason I say cancer saved my life is because it was a moment and an opportunity for me to completely reassess my own health and my approach to health,” Julia told The Sun. She clarified that she wasn’t “blaming” herself for her cancer, but that the diagnosis made her realise that she “wasn’t leading a healthy day by day life.”
The BBC star described how sleep in particular was something that she always overlooked, explaining how when she started out in her career at Lorraine getting rest wasn’t a priority.
“I was doing GMB back then too, and I’d stay up until two or three o’clock because you’re buzzing because you’ve been on live television. And then I’d sleep till whatever time it was and then get up and then start chasing people right down the red carpet again,” she said.
Julia shared: “I look back and I go, I’m not actually that surprised. I mean, my disease manifested itself as cancer. It could have been type 2 diabetes. It could have been three or four other things.”
The TV presenter is now much more focused on health and wellbeing, and also described how the first major change she made after her diagnosis was to stop drinking alcohol completely. Julia’s diagnosis was a struggle in itself, as the common condition of dense breasts made her tumour harder to identify.
“I was away on a job in Costa Rica… I was in a hotel and I was doing my breast checking, which I’ve always done very regularly and I found a lump. I looked in the mirror and I could see the lump in my skin,” she shared last month of the moment she found the lump in 2020.
Following a Zoom consultation with her doctor, he managed to get her a consultation despite the uncertainty of the beginning of Covid-19. However, the doctor’s conclusion was wrong. She added: “I ended up having a mammogram and an ultrasound and the diagnosis was you have benign micro-cysts.
“My consultant said to me ‘If I were you I’d keep an eye on it – and even if you have to pay for it do another mammogram and ultrasound in a year’s time.’”
After a year, however, the lump had become “painful to touch.” Her second mammogram again failed to bring forth the right diagnosis, and it was only after an ultrasound that Julia was able to be diagnosed and work towards overcoming the disease.
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