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Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian reveals breast cancer diagnosis after discovering lump while breastfeeding
9 September 2024, 13:02 | Updated: 9 September 2024, 13:12
Ali Bastian has shared her 'total shock' at being diagnosed with stage two breast cancer, but remains hopeful as she undergoes treatment.
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Hollyoaks actress Ali Bastian, who played Becca Dean on the hit Channel 4 soap, has revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer after finding a lump while breastfeeding.
Ali, 42, recently moved away from London to West Cork in Ireland with her husband David O’Mahony and their two children, 19-month-old Isabella and four-year-old Isla, however, the family was thrown a "massive curl ball" with the diagnosis.
The actress was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of June 2023 and is currently having chemotherapy before undergoing a mastectomy, followed by radiotherapy treatment.
Speaking to OK! Magazine, Ali revealed that her diagnosis came after she discovered a lump in her breast while breastfeeding her daughter, Isabella.
“I hadn’t been breastfeeding Izzy at night but then David flew back to London for work and suddenly she was feeding like crazy," Ali told the publication: "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."
She continued to recall: “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."
However, things did not clear up and the more Ali felt it the more she became certain it was not a blocked duct. She went to her GP and asked if she could go straight to the breast clinic.
Ali underwent scans at the clinic and a few days later received the life-changing news that she had breast cancer, believed to be hormone-driven and potentially genetic.
Speaking of the moment she found out, Ali said: "We agreed that I would text her and that she would then call me back. I could hear it in the tone of her voice but she told me in the kindest way possible. She was very reassuring. She said the words that I’m holding on to, that they have ‘intent to cure me’.”
David also remembers the moment Ali told him, explaining: “I was with the kids and Ali stuck her head round the door and said that cancerous cells had turned up in the biopsy. She said it in the most subtle way so the girls didn’t twig.
"I could see how scared and in shock she was. It’s so tempting to try and ‘positive’ your way through news like this but it just hit us like a sledgehammer. I just had a feeling of it being so unfair that Ali had been dealt this hand.”
Ali is now undergoing chemotherapy, which will last for five months, and will later have a mastectomy which will be followed by radiotherapy treatment.
She admitted that she may get a double mastectomy in order to be safe, saying: “I’ve asked if they would consider a double mastectomy as a preventative measure and they would, but it’s not been fully discussed yet.”
Ali said the time following the diagnosis was "really tough" as she didn't know what would happen next: "For me that’s where the difficult journey with trust came in. It’s not something that always comes naturally to me – so I have to remind myself daily to trust in my team, trust in the plan and trust it will all be OK.”
Despite the devastating news, Ali said that the treatment and kindness she has been shown in Ireland has been amazing.
She reflected: “After I’d got my diagnosis and digested the news for a bit, I rang my doctor back and said, ‘What should I do? Should I go back to London?’ And she said, ‘I don’t want you to worry about that. The Irish will take care of you.
“I feel like they’re treating me like one of their own. It’s like I’ve been scooped up. I’ve been blown away by the care and kindness – every kind word and cup of tea means a lot. We love it here.”
