Ex-Coronation Street star Victoria Ekanoye opened up about her ongoing breast cancer fight on Wednesday’s Loose Women show, after she underwent a double mastectomy in December.
The 40-year-old appeared on the ITV daytime show to discuss her terrifying diagnosis in October last year, when she found a lump while breastfeeding her newborn baby Theo.
Victoria, who played Angie Appleton in Corrie before she quit the ITV soap in 2019, told the panel she immediately knew something was wrong, as she is the fifth member of her family to have had breast cancer.
Sitting in the studio, Victoria said: “When my breast was full with milk it would just protrude out of the skin. I could see it, my partner could see it and it’s quite alarming.”
After she was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ, where milk duct cells turn cancerous, Victoria checked into Wythenshawe Hospital on December 17 for a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
She told the Loose Women panel that she is now at the point where she will have to make a decision whether to undergo chemotherapy or hormone therapy treatment.
Victoria said she is leaning towards the latter treatment over five a year period, despite the fact it can cause menopause symptoms, as the side effects of chemotherapy can be “debilitating”.
She told the Loose Women: “I think the hardest part has been telling people. I went and got the results on my own on Monday against everybody’s wishes, because I feel like if I can focus on what they’re telling me and ask the right questions, I can process everything and then I can get back and tell them what’s going on.
“I went on my own and when I came out I took a breather in the car. You just get the information and then see what best you can make of it.
“The waiting has been the hardest bit - especially for my family.”
However, she said that her one-year-old Theo, who she had with boyfriend Jonny, 33, has been “the light at the end of the tunnel” for the couple.
She said: “Having this amazing incredible miracle, he’s our driving force for everything.
“We’re a bit fragmented as a family because my partner’s business is in France, so we’re not together as much as we’d like to be, so when we do get that time, it’s so precious, so everything we’re doing is for him.”
