Coronation Street star Victoria Ekanoye, 42, shares a huge cancer update two years after her life-changing diagnosis

Coronation Street star Victoria Ekanoye has revealed she is finally cancer free, two years after she was diagnosed with the disease.

The actress revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and has since undergone a double mastectomy.

Victoria, who previously played Angie Appleton in the ITV soap from 2017 to 2019, revealed her latest PET scan came back clear.

Victoria wrote in a snap of tweets with her partner Jonny Lomas and their son Théo: ‘Taken on the day I revealed my breast cancer diagnosis, 2021. Just received my blood and PET scan results, I can finally say… I am CANCER FREE

“Thank you to those who were my safety net. I am humbled to have such beautiful people in my life. 2024 Let’s go! #WorldCancerDay.”

The actress revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 after finding a lump while breastfeeding her son Theo, and has since undergone a double mastectomy.

Victoria, who previously played Angie Appleton in the ITV soap from 2017 to 2019, revealed her latest PET scan came back clear

Speaking to The Sun about her news, she said: ‘Oh god it’s been a long wait, obviously at the end of 2021 I was diagnosed and our boy wasn’t even 1 year old yet so we’re just over the moon to have that to drop the weight from our shoulders.

“We laughed and cried, it was so surreal because it feels like it’s been going on for so long.”

Victoria first discovered a lump the size of a frozen pea while breastfeeding her six-month-old son in 2021.

She then underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with ductal carcinoma, a form of breast cancer, in the same location.

After her diagnosis, Victoria landed a role in Death In Paradise in 2022, but was devastated when she discovered a ‘second lump’ in her breast on set in Guadeloupe.

She told MailOnline: ‘I had to fly to Guadeloupe and I took my son and mother with me.

‘While I was there I found a second lump, so that was the moment for me. I remember being on set and about to move on.

“I had to take a few minutes to put it in the back of my mind and just kind of talk to myself, ‘You can handle this. Go out and do your job!’

Victoria previously played Angie Appleton in Coronation Street from 2017 to 2019

She underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with ductal carcinoma, a form of breast cancer, in the same location

‘When we came back – we actually came back to England in September – and that’s when I went to the GP because I know there’s a great service called the One Stop Breast Clinic.

“Basically, if you’re symptomatic, whatever the symptoms are, they’ll make sure you get an appointment and you’ll be seen within two weeks.

‘I’ve had a physical examination by the breast nurse and then I’ve had a needle test in my armpit, I’ve had mammograms, I’ve also had biopsies in the mammography – so they’ve taken samples from both lumps – and I’ve had ultrasounds on the day that Well, so I was there for about four hours total. I did not expect that.

‘I’m so grateful and towards the end of that day I saw the breast consultant. And she said, “Look, I want to be honest with you. It concerns me what we’re seeing, but obviously we have to send everything out for samples, so you can come back next week – we’ll meet with the head consultant and bring someone with you.”

“And my family has heard that before, so I knew it had to be something.”

She explained that it was then that she decided she would have a double mastectomy regardless of what they found: “Because I didn’t have the risk of it coming back in the other breast or coming back in the same breast – and all with the risk of this in the family.’

In December, she shared an update on her battle with cancer during an appearance on Loose Women, revealing that there were only a very small number of tumor cells circulating in her body.

“I haven’t told you this yet, but I’m doing great!” They gave me medication instead of chemotherapy because chemotherapy was more life-threatening because of my sickle cell disease,” she said.

“The side effects of that are that I’m now in induced menopause, which is a lot of fun with a toddler,” she joked.

‘So I went and had an incredible, groundbreaking blood test to see if I still had circulating tumor cells in my body from the breast cancer, and indeed I do, but it’s a very small amount that can be treated.

‘I hope you don’t need chemotherapy because of all the side effects it brings.

‘But the most important thing for me is that I know it now, because it is at the molecular level. It’s not something you see on a scan, an ultrasound or a mammogram, it’s nothing you can feel.’

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, affecting more than two MILLION women every year

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in the world. There are more than 55,000 new cases in Britain every year, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US it affects 266,000 people and kills 40,000 every year. But what causes it and how can it be treated?

What is breast cancer?

It comes from a cancer cell that develops in the lining of a duct or lobe in one of the breasts.

When the breast cancer has spread to surrounding tissue, it is called ‘invasive’. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells have grown outside the duct or lobule.

Most cases develop in people over the age of 50, but sometimes younger women are also affected. Breast cancer can develop in men, although this is rare.

Staging indicates how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.

The cancer cells are classified from low, which means slow growth, to high, which means fast growth. High-grade cancers are more likely to come back after they are first treated.

What causes breast cancer?

A cancerous tumor starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or changes certain genes in the cell. This causes the cell to become abnormal and multiply ‘out of control’.

Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase its likelihood, such as genetics.

What are the symptoms of breast cancer?

The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most are not cancerous and are fluid-filled cysts, which are benign.

The first place breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. When this happens, a swelling or lump develops in the armpit.

How is breast cancer diagnosed?

• Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammogram, a special X-ray of the breast tissue that can indicate the possibility of tumors.
• Biopsy: A biopsy involves removing a small piece of tissue from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under a microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.

If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess whether the cancer has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound of the liver or an X-ray of the chest.

How is breast cancer treated?

Treatment options that may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. A combination of two or more of these treatments is often used.

• Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or removal of the affected breast, depending on the size of the tumor.
• Radiotherapy: A treatment that uses high-energy beams of radiation aimed at cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells or prevents them from multiplying. It is mainly used as an adjunct to surgery.
• Chemotherapy: A cancer treatment that uses anticancer drugs that kill cancer cells or prevent them from multiplying.
• Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone estrogen, which can stimulate cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments that lower the levels of these hormones or prevent them from working are often used in people with breast cancer.

How successful is the treatment?

The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumor at an early stage can then give a good chance of cure.

Thanks to routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 70, more cases of early-stage breast cancer are being diagnosed and treated.

For more information, visit breastcancernow.org or call the free helpline on 0808 800 6000