‘I was slightly hysterical’: Sarah Beeny reveals her fear of dying during breast cancer battle and says diagnosis has made family more ‘resilient’
Sarah Beeny has revealed she was ‘hysterical about not dying’ when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The TV presenter, 51, revealed the news of her diagnosis in August 2022 and in the months since she has been working on a Channel 4 documentary which follows her journey through diagnosis and treatment.
Speaking about receiving the diagnosis, Sarah told The Guardian: ‘I was slightly hysterical about not dying, with everyone going: ‘You’re not going to die.’ And me saying: ‘I can’t die, I can’t die.’ ‘No, you’re not!’ It takes ages for you to hear it.
Sarah said she didn’t know much about cancer before her diagnosis, recalling how she was unaware of the difference between chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The Property Ladder star said her cancer battle has been just as tough on her husband Graham Swift and their sons Billy, Rafferty and Charlie.
Candid: Sarah Beeny has revealed she was ‘hysterical about not dying’ when she was diagnosed with breast cancer
Health: The TV presenter, 51, revealed the news of her diagnosis in August 2022 and in the months since she has been working on a Channel 4 documentary which follows her journey through diagnosis and treatment
Sarah said: ‘I suppose the last year has tested our resilience as a family. I think it’s been hard on all the children and Graham. If you’re lucky enough to have people who love you, they go through cancer, too.’
The star added that she briefly considered telling no one about her diagnosis but didn’t want to put ‘the burden of secrecy’ on her sons.
She explained: ‘If I told this story, there might be loads of people who wouldn’t be so scared. Because living with the fear of cancer is really hard. It’s disproportionate to the risk.’
The presenter was given the all-clear in April although will take drugs for the next ten years and remain ‘vigilant’.
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine about getting the all-clear, she said: ‘It’s good. It’s weird. It’s kind of like they [the doctors] go ‘that’s it then’ and that’s the end of that.
‘And you go ‘how do you know?’ and they say ‘well we don’t we just think so.’
‘It’s a weird end – you feel like there’s going to be a big moment.’
Sarah said: ‘I was slightly hysterical about not dying, with everyone going: ‘You’re not going to die.’ And me saying: ‘I can’t die, I can’t die.’ ‘No, you’re not!’ It takes ages for you to hear it’
Tough time: It comes after Sarah appeared on The One Show and told how she had been ‘living with the fear’ of death for a long time but is feeling strong during her treatment
It comes after Sarah appeared on The One Show and told how she had been ‘living with the fear’ of death for a long time but was feeling strong during her treatment.
She explained of her motivation to film the documentary that ‘one of the reasons was that mother died of breast cancer when I was 10, and so I always feared it.’
‘When I got to 39 which was when my mother died, I thought “here we are” and when I got to 40 I thought “oh, that’s weird” and then I got to 50 and was diagnosed.’
‘So I’ve lived with this fear for such a long time and actually once I realised how the treatment works it’s not nearly as bad as the fear, and I thought well if I can talk about, a) it keeps me busy and b) if I can make it a bit less scary for other people and make them not be scared of going to the doctor, because the earlier the diagnosis the better the outcome.’
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