Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson reveals she had a double mastectomy

The Duchess of York has revealed she had a single mastectomy after a mammogram detected her breast cancer.

Sarah Ferguson, 63, said she put off getting routine checks until her sister Jane Ferguson, who lives in Australia insisted that she get checked. 

The royal is now urging all people to get checked and said her diagnosis was a ‘wake up call’ to get ‘super fit’.

Speaking on the Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah podcast, she said it was ‘vital’ that everyone get screened for cancer, and that ‘so many people’ in her family have died of cancer.

She explained her step-father Héctor Barrantes, died of prostate cancer aged 50 in 1990, while her father Ronald Ferguson also died of cancer and used his diagnosis to urge people to get checked.

‘Go get screened, go get checked,’ she insisted.

Sarah Ferguson, 63, said she put off getting routine checks until her sister Jane Ferguson, who lives in Australia insisted that she get checked  (the pair are pictured together)

Sarah added that her father Ronald ‘went on the radio and told people to get checked’.

‘He said “It doesn’t matter if you see it feel fine. Cancer can be so silent, go get screened, go get checked. 

‘Most of his friends called him up and said “no on wants to hear from you Ronald’. she said.

‘But we’re taping the podcast today, and tomorrow I’m going for a single mastectomy. It’s very important that we speak about it, when it airs, I’ll have been through this’ the Duchess added. 

‘I don’t care if no one wants to hear from me, I’m telling you I’m doing this, and I’m telling people to go get screened’.

Sarah, Duchess of York, has undergone an operation to treat breast cancer, it has been revealed

The duchess underwent an operation at the King Edward VII hospital in Marylebone, Central London, where royals are frequently treated

The mother-of-two, that was married to Prince Andrew from 1986 to 1996, added that she now might ‘do an Iron Man’ or travel to Austria, Wales and Scotland to ‘climb mountains.’ 

‘I’m taking this a real gift to change my life. To nurture myself, to stop trying to fix everything else. I think “are you going to take yourself seriously now Sarah?”.

‘I’m going to get fit, I’m going to understand it. I’m going to be super fit, super strong, really understand what caused this and look at it straight on’.

‘I love joy, and this is my chance. I can’t make another excuse, I have to go through this operation and be strong and fit.’

The Duchess added that her check-up was on a ‘hot day’ and that she didn’t want to ‘travel to London from Windsor’ for the appointment.

‘It was easy to put off,’ she explained.

‘My sister said “no go, I need you to go”. She was ringing me up about something else and getting forceful with me saying I had to go.’

On the first episode of her podcast, Fergie insisted she is ‘very shy’ and said she ‘trusts too much’ and ‘too many people’ (pictured with her co-host Sarah Jane Thomson) 

The Duchess added that she went to the Royal Free Hospital in north London for her test, which involved injecting dye into her body so doctors could spot the cancer. 

‘It was only a shadow they wouldn’t have…found out that there is an issue.’

Speaking ahead of the operation, Sarah added: ‘I have to go through this operation, and I have to be well and strong. And therefore, no choice is the best choice.

‘I’m going to go out there and get super, super well – super strong.

‘And I want to always if I have to shout about this from the top of the mountains then I’ll shout out because I think it’s vital that we need to wake everybody gets screened not just breast cancer, prostate, all the checks.’   

Princess Eugenie, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and Princess Beatrice (pictured at the wedding of Petra Palumbo and Simon Fraser in 2016)

She added she is ‘hugely thankful’ to hospital staff involved in the mammogram which detected her breast cancer and believes her experience ‘underlines the importance of regular screening’.

After undergoing surgery at the private King Edward VII hospital in Marylebone, central London, she has been told her prognosis is good and she is recuperating at Windsor with her family.

In a statement, a spokesman said Sarah wanted to ‘express her immense gratitude to all the medical staff who have supported her in recent days’.

The duchess has highlighted her experience as she encourages other women to get themselves checked for breast cancer.

It is understood that she spent five days in the King Edward VII Hospital, which is regularly used by the Royal Family, before her release yesterday. 

Her spokesman said: ‘Sarah, Duchess of York was recently diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer detected at a routine mammogram screening.

‘She was advised she needed to undergo surgery which has taken place successfully.

‘The duchess is receiving the best medical care and her doctors have told her that the prognosis is good. She is now recuperating with her family.

The Duchess of York (centre) with her two daughters, Princess Beatrice (left) and Princess Eugenie (right)

‘The duchess wants to express her immense gratitude to all the medical staff who have supported her in recent days.

‘She is also hugely thankful to the staff involved in the mammogram which identified her illness, which was otherwise symptom free, and believes her experience underlines the importance of regular screening.’

A friend of the duchess said: ‘It has all happened very quickly, to be honest. But Sarah is in the best of hands and is keen to get the message out about the importance of regular screening given her experience.’

The duchess, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, is mother to Princess Eugenie, 33, and Princess Beatrice, 34. Beatrice was seen greeting friends with a hug near the hospitality area at the Glastonbury Festival yesterday. 

Sarah and Andrew divorced in 1996 but remain close friends and live together at Royal Lodge in Windsor, where she is recuperating. Eugenie, who gave birth to her second son earlier this month, lives close by at Frogmore Cottage.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, with around 55,000 women diagnosed each year.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?

What is breast cancer?

It comes from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.

When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding tissue it is called ‘invasive’. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.

Most cases develop in those over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men, though this is rare.

Staging indicates how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.

The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast-growing. High-grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.

What causes breast cancer?

A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply ‘out of control’.

Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance, such as genetics.

What are the symptoms of breast cancer?

The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign. 

The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.

How is breast cancer diagnosed?

• Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
• Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under a microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.

If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest X-ray.

How is breast cancer treated?

Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.

• Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
• Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focused on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops them from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
• Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying.
• Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.

How successful is treatment?

The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.

The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 70 means more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.

For more information visit breastcancernow.org or call its free helpline on 0808 800 6000

Most women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 50. Mammographic screening, where X-ray images of the breast are taken, is the most commonly available way of detecting cancer.

The NHS Breast Screening Programme invites all women from the age of 50 to 70 registered with a GP for screening every three years. A landmark study out earlier this month found women diagnosed with breast cancer are now two thirds more likely to survive than their counterparts 20 years ago.

Experts said it illustrated the substantial improvements to both diagnoses and treatment since the 1990s.

Patients diagnosed with early invasive breast cancer between 1993 and 1999 had a 14 per cent chance of dying from the disease within five years.

 But this risk has fallen to five per cent in those diagnosed between 2010 and 2015, a landmark study by Oxford University reveals. The difference equates to 64 per cent, or two thirds. Most of those diagnosed today ‘can expect to be long-term cancer survivors’, allowing them to plan and get on with their lives. The study is the first of its kind to include all 512,447 women diagnosed with early invasive breast cancer in England between January 1993 and December 2015.