Education Secretary James Cleverly
(Picture: PA Wire)The Education Secretary has described being in "real shock" and unable to speak when his wife told him she had breast cancer.
James Cleverly found out about wife Susannah's diagnosis as he commuted into Parliament last year.
Mrs Cleverly noticed "strange dimpling" in her breast last November and doctors found lumps in her breast and lymph nodes the following month.
"I was travelling up into Westminster on the train on that Monday morning and Susie called and she was crying," Mr Cleverly told BBC Radio Essex on Monday.
"I felt quite calm at that point when Susie was talking to me and I decided that I needed to let my private secretary and civil servants know that I wasn't going to be in that day.
“I said I'm really sorry you're going to have to clear the meetings. And he said 'Is everything okay, Minister?' I couldn't speak I couldn't get my words out ... that was a real shock."
The Braintree MP, who was a Foreign Office minister at the time, said focusing on his work in Government kept his "head together" while his wife was undergoing treatment and the couple, who have two sons, now prioritise spending time with family.
Mrs Cleverly received treatment at Guy's and St Thomas' hospital and said doctors have told her she is recovering well.
She encouraged women to have have any body changes checked by doctors and not just unusual lumps.
"I think we wanted to help raise awareness because I didn't find a lump," she said.
"A friend of mine had breast cancer a few years before me so I was aware that the skin change was something to look out for.
"But before she was diagnosed with breast cancer, I thought a lump was what you looked for. So I thought it was quite important to let people know that it's not just a lump, it is any change."
