Kelly Hoppen has stated that she has her spouse examine her breasts because she is still too terrified, even after being diagnosed with cancer.
The 63-year-old former Dragons’ Den investor stated she was diagnosed with the cancer after skipping her mammography appointment for eight years, and the dread persisted even after she began receiving additional tests.
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 show also featured a live breast examination to teach viewers how to perform their own lump checks, and Alison Hammond acknowledged she had ‘never’ done it so thoroughly.
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.’
Kelly said in a Daily Mail editorial that she mistakenly believed that as she got older, her chances of getting cancer decreased, adding that “ignorance was bliss.”
The interior designer had this incorrect view despite her own mother, who will soon turn 87, fighting breast cancer when she was the same age, and her father dying when he was 48.
Kelly would postpone her mammograms before cancelling them, and she said she had “stopped thinking about them altogether.”
According to the NHS, everybody who is registered with a GP as female is initially invited for breast screenings between the ages of 50 and 53, and then every three years until the age of 71.
Kelly, who was on Dragons’ Den from 2013 to 2015, ultimately went for a long-overdue exam in September, despite having no ‘warning signals’ of breast cancer.
Following the consultation and subsequent tests, she was diagnosed with DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ), which was described as the “very mildest form of cancer.”
She had a treatment to remove cancer cells from two milk ducts, followed by “precautionary surgery to remove the tissue around the cancer and ensure it hadn’t spread.”
She was assured the cancer hadn’t spread and subsequently discovered she didn’t have the BRCA gene after doing a BRCA gene test to see whether she had a genetic proclivity for specific malignancies.
She did not require radiation, and a check-up a month ago showed that everything was ‘clean,’ with just a 10% to 15% probability of the disease returning.
How should you check your breasts for lumps or irregularities?
Addie Mitchell, clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Now, wants women to know there is no right or wrong method to examine their breasts while discussing the significance of breast awareness.
‘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.’
