Michaela Strachan has opened up about the struggle she faced following her diagnosis with breast cancer back in 2014.
During an appearance on Vanessa Feltz‘s Channel 5 show Vanessa on Friday, the Springwatch host spoke about her experience of having a double mastectomy, and the impact the procedure had on her.
The 59-year-old said: “My boobs were never a big part of my personality, but when they said they were going to take them away, they suddenly became more important than I thought they were.
“It’s hard, you go through these things and you think you’re going to be fine and it’s not until afterwards that you realise emotionally it’s a big thing.”
Michaela also voiced her thoughts on the procedure as a medical solution, adding: “I really hope that in 50 years time we look back at removing a woman’s boobs as part of the treatment as archaic because there must be a better way.”
© Jo Charlesworth, BBCWhen Vanessa asked if it’s too brutal, she responded: “It’s brutal! To take a woman’s breasts away is brutal. Of course, I’d rather not have boobs and be here than have them and be worried that cancer is going to come back. But it just seems extremely brutal.”
Michaela also opened up about the process of recovery
The Springwatch host also spoke about recovering from her double mastectomy, commenting: “It’s a six week recovery from the mastectomy and six weeks when you have the reconstruction.
“There’s a lot of physio exercises that you do, but, you know what, I’m in the position now where it’s 11 years later and I forget that I’ve had a mastectomy.”
© Mike Marsland/WireImageMoving forward, Michaela is eager to have more people talk about the toll of the surgery: “It seems like such a massive thing at the time, and I remember asking someone at the time, ‘When will I stop thinking about it every day?’ Now, day to day, I forget that I ever had breast cancer. I was really lucky.”
Michaela recently spoke about her ‘difficult dynamic’ with partner
Though the former Dancing on Ice contestant has been dating her partner, Nick Chevallier, since 2003, she has no plans to marry him.
Michaela told Platinum magazine: “We don’t see the need to get married. It’s an awful lot of expense isn’t it?”
© InstagramWhen the Springwatch host started dating Nick, he and his three children were grieving his late wife, who had died from colon cancer.
“Coming into a relationship with someone that had lost their partner, and three kids who had lost their mum, was a difficult dynamic to begin with,” she added. “There were no real major challenges, just the feeling of, ‘Whoa, how do we handle all this?’ It needed thought and patience.”
