Kelly Hoppen has admitted she gets her partner to check her breasts because she’s still too scared even after her cancer diagnosis.
The 63-year-old former Dragons’ Den investor, who has since been told she is ‘clear’, revealed she had been diagnosed with the disease after avoiding her mammogram appointment for eight years and the fear continued even after she started undergoing other scans.
Appearing on Monday’s episode of This Morning, she said: ‘When I was having the MRI I literally said to the woman, “No I can’t do this”. And they went and got John and brought him in.
‘He wasn’t supposed to be in that area and he talked me through it. They said, “We need you here every day”… Even then I was willing to walk. Total and utter fear and stupidity. Well, yes it was.
‘That’s why I say to everyone out there, if you’re frightened, go, because medicine and medical health is so extraordinary.’
She added: ‘I’m still to scared to check myself. I told John, “You’ll have to do it”, and he went, “Oh yeah!” ‘
The programme also aired a live breast examination to help teach viewers how to carry out their own checks for lumps, and Alison Hammond admitted she she had ‘never’ done it in such a thorough way.
Her co-host Holly Willoughby revealed: ‘You have to do it. I set a monthly reminder in my phone, so it goes off like an alarm and I check it every month.’
Alison added: ‘You know what? I’m gonna start doing that. I’ve never done that, not to that extent. I’ve never done that.’
In a piece for the Daily Mail, Kelly had explained that she wrongly believed that as she got older, there was a reduced risk she would get cancer, claiming ‘ignorance was bliss’.
The interior designer held this inaccurate belief despite her own mum – who’s soon turning 87 – battling breast cancer when she was the same age, after suffering the death of her father when he was 48.
A Million Missed Mammograms
After being diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine mammogram in November, Dawn Butler MP was grateful to find out it was caught early.
However, she learned that a million women missed out on their mammograms due to the pandemic, with an estimated 10,000 currently living with undetected breast cancer.
Determined to change that, Dawn has launched a campaign with Metro.co.uk to get a million women to book their missed screenings.
If you have been inspired to do so after hearing Dawn’s story, please let her know on her website, emailing us or using #FindTheMillion on social media.
Kelly would postpone her mammograms before cancelling them, and admitted she ‘stopped thinking about them altogether’.
The NHS outlines that anyone who is registered with a GP as female is first invited for breast screenings when they’re between 50 and 53, and will be invited every three years until they turn 71.
Last September, Kelly – who appeared on Dragons’ Den from 2013 to 2015 – finally went for a long-overdue screening, having had no ‘warning signs’ of breast cancer.
The appointment and subsequent screenings led to her being diagnosed with DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ), which she was told was the ‘very mildest form of cancer’.
She underwent a procedure to have the cancer cells removed from tow milk ducts, and then had ‘precautionary surgery to remove the tissue around the cancer and ensure it hadn’t spread’.
She was told the cancer hadn’t spread, and later found out she didn’t have the BRCA gene, after doing a BRCA gene test to ascertain if she had ‘an inherited tendency for certain cancers’.
She didn’t need radiotherapy, and a check-up a month ago confirmed everything was ‘clear’, and there is just a 10 to 15% chance the cancer could return.
How should you check your breasts for lumps or irregularities?
Discussing the importance of being breast aware, Addie Mitchell, clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Now, wants women to know there is no right or wrong way to check your breasts.
‘It’s about looking and feeling regularly so any changes can be spotted quickly,’ she said. ‘The sooner breast cancer is diagnosed, the more effective treatment may be.
‘Whatever your age, being aware of all the signs and symptoms of breast cancer is crucial – it’s not just a lump to look out for. Other changes could be a nipple becoming inverted or a change in texture of the skin.
‘While most symptoms won’t mean breast cancer, if you notice anything unusual for you get it checked out by your GP.
‘Anyone with questions can call Breast Cancer Now’s nurses free on 0808 800 6000 or visit breastcancernow.org.uk.’
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MORE : Kelly Hoppen’s tips on how to get the luxury home look on a budget
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