Sarah Beeny reveals the one big change in her life after battling breast cancer as she shares the most important advice she wants to pass on
Sarah Beeny has revealed the one big change in her life after battling breast cancer.
The TV presenter, 15, got the all clear in April 2023 and in June she released her documentary Sarah Beeny vs. Cancer, which detailed her cancer journey, including her double mastectomy.
Now she says her new attitude to life is to always be “proactive” because any of us could be “dead tomorrow.”
Sarah has four children: sons Billy, 18, Charlie, 16, Rafferty, 14, and Laurie, 12.
She said The mirror about her new outlook on life: ‘It’s so important to be proactive, I have a whole life to live now.
Having her say: Sarah Beeny has revealed the one major change in her life after battling breast cancer
Difficult: The TV presenter, 15, was cleared in April 2023 and in June she released her documentary Sarah Beeny vs. Cancer, which detailed her cancer journey, including her double mastectomy
‘Any one of us could be dead tomorrow. I say: take your chance, because you have been sleeping for a long time. The whole trip has made me less afraid of things in life.
‘I’m not very good at turning down opportunities for anything or anyone. If something is even slightly tempting, I say yes.”
She added that when doctors told her she had cancer but wouldn’t die, she immediately heard, “What kind of coffin do you want?” but in the end she understood what they were really telling her.
Sarah also explained that she doesn’t want to give cancer the “power” to say it has changed her.
The star said: ‘I don’t want to give cancer that power. The only thing strong enough to change me is my children – why would it be cancer? I’ve put some ogres to bed, but it hasn’t changed me at all. It’s just a beep, I think it’s more irrelevant than that.’
It comes after it was recently revealed she underwent gene testing to determine her family’s risk of developing cancer, following her own battle with the disease.
The star was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2022 and underwent grueling chemotherapy, as well as a double mastectomy.
But the star has been incredibly open about her journey and in a recent interview she discussed how she has now discovered she has a gene mutation that makes her more likely to develop the disease.
Results: Sarah is pictured with her husband Graham Swift and her children Billy, 18, Laurie, 12, Charlie, 16, and Rafferty, 14 (seen in April)
Positive: Now she says her new attitude to life is to always be ‘proactive’ because any of us could be ‘dead tomorrow’ (pictured during her battle with cancer)
The results of the tests strengthened Sarah’s decision to have a double mastectomy instead of a single mastectomy, because the gene meant she had a 50/50 chance of developing cancer in the breast again in the future that had not yet occurred. was affected.
It also meant there was a 50/50 chance she would pass the gene on to her children, sons Billy, Charlie, Rafferty and Laurie.
Sarah discovered that although she was negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2, she tested positive for PALB2, which could have wider implications for her children and potential future grandchildren.
After the test results, some of the star’s family members also decided to be tested.
Her brother Diccon tested negative, but her four sons are yet to be tested, while she has also passed on the information to her aunt and cousins.
Sarah explained; ‘I’ve given them control, it’s up to them what they do with it. It’s a very personal decision. I like the control, others may not want to know.”
In addition to a double mastectomy, the star also wants to have her ovaries removed.
She explains that the gene also means she has a marginally increased risk of developing ovarian cancer and has decided that since it is only a day operation and she has finished having children, she will be booked in to have them removed.
In her new book The Simple Life: How I Found Home, the star spoke candidly about her cancer journey, but said: ‘It’s just one thing in my life that’s over now. I don’t want this to be the only thing people will think about me in ten years’ time.’
The property ladder presenter appeared on BBC Breakfast last month when she discussed how grateful she felt to have completed her treatment.
‘I’m really lucky. I had a very lucky diagnosis, I’m lucky to live in Britain and I’m lucky to have the NHS. I’m glad I’m my age, there’s so many things I’m grateful for to be honest,” Sarah said.
She said she still felt like the same person after her ordeal, but admitted it opened a “box of demons” she had to confront.
She said: ‘I was diagnosed with cancer a year ago and to be honest it hasn’t changed me at all.
Journey: In her new book The Simple Life: How I Found Home, the star spoke candidly about her cancer journey, but said: ‘It’s just one thing in my life that’s over now. I don’t want this to be the only thing people will think about me in ten years’ time.”
“I mean, obviously it was because I had to go through treatment. But I’d hate to think I’m a different person now.”
She admitted: ‘I’m probably a lot less nervous about cancer now because it was like the big bad wolf and now I think you just have to deal with it.
‘The earlier the diagnosis is made, the better the outcome, so all you have to do is get to the doctor quickly.
‘The treatment is great compared to forty years ago and in forty years it will really be nothing.’