Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian has been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.
The 42-year-old actress – who is best known for playing Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap from 2001 to 2007 – has admitted she was left in “total shock” when she found out the devastating news at the end of June.
Ali is currently having chemotherapy before she undergoes a mastectomy and radiotherapy.
She told OK!: ‘It was a total shock. I have mornings when I wake up and I’ve forgotten… and then suddenly I remember. I’m still trying to process it.’
THE DISCOVERY
Ali was breastfeeding daughter Isabella, 19 months – her youngest child with husband David O’Mahony – when she came across a lump.
The mother-of-two shared: ‘I hadn’t been breastfeeding Izzy at night but then David flew back to London for work and suddenly she was feeding like crazy. I was thinking, “Maybe she’s having a growth spurt or something.”
‘And because of that, my boobs felt sore. The next morning, I woke up and thought, “Ouch, this really hurts.” And that’s when I felt a lump.’
WHAT DOCTOR SAID
Ali assumed she had a “blocked duct” and was given a course of antibiotics, but it wasn’t clearing up, so on her doctor’s advice, she headed to a breast clinic.
She continued: ‘It was a bank holiday in Ireland, so I went straight to the emergency doctor.
‘It really seemed like I had mastitis, especially as I had been night-weaning Izzy before that. We thought I probably had a blocked duct. The doctor gave me antibiotics and said that if it didn’t clear up in a few days I should go to the breast clinic.
‘But it wasn’t clearing up and the more I felt it, the more it felt like this wasn’t just a blocked duct. I went to my GP and I said, ‘Actually, can I go to the clinic now?’ and she was very supportive of that.’
Ali received the shock news via telephone but was reassured after being told they have “intent to cure” her.
