Former Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian has revealed that she is now “cancer free” following a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.
The soap actor, 43, who has also starred in Doctors and The Bill, announced last year that she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer after finding a lump while breastfeeding her daughter, Isabella.
“I hadn’t been breastfeeding Izzy [her 19-month-old daughter Isabella] at night but then David flew back to London for work and suddenly she was feeding like crazy,” she told OK! Magazine at the time. “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.”
In an update on Instagram, Bastian wrote that she was in her “final week of radiotherapy which should mark the end my active treatment”.
She added: “I had my mastectomy in January which was thankfully a success and has healed really well, it proved that my chemo(therapy) had worked. As I sit here right now, I’m free from cancer.
“I can’t even believe it.”
The British star, who lives in West Cork, Ireland, with her husband David O’Mahony, thanked the nurses at Cork University Hospital who gave her “compassion, time and space to share and talk about my experience of a very challenging treatment pathway”, which she called “an awful lot to process mentally and emotionally”.
“To be coming out of the other side of this feels unreal, after the shock of a diagnosis it’s hard to let in the light and believe that it might just be OK,” she added.
“The road back to my life won’t be a linear one… and I will share with you as always, as much of my truth of this experience as I can. I am so, so grateful for all of your support.
“People with cancer, experiencing cancer treatment need love. Full stop. Unconditional, arms around you love and support. I’ve really felt that from you all, also in my day-to-day life… from the most unexpected of places. When it’s dark, look for stars.”
The 2009 Strictly Come Dancing semi-finalist shares another daughter, Isla Rose, with actor, writer and director husband O’Mahony, who she married in 2019. She played Becca Dean on Hollyoaks between 2002 and 2008.
According to Cancer Research UK, stage 2 breast cancer is an early form of the condition, and can mean the disease is either in the breast or in the nearby lymph nodes, or both.
Additional reporting by PA.
