EXCLUSIVE: EastEnders legend Samantha Womack, who played Ronnie in the BBC soap, says she’s still dealing with the effects of her “rollercoaster” breast cancer battle in 2022
Samantha Womack says she’s still dealing with the effects of her “rollercoaster” battle with breast cancer three years on.
The 52-year-old actress, famed for playing Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders, went public with her breast cancer diagnosis in August 2022. The beloved soap star declared she was cancer-free in December of that year after “brutal” rounds of chemo as well as radiotherapy, a lumpectomy, and a lymph node removal.
Samantha has now revealed the “biggest changes” in her body are happening now as a result of the gruelling treatments. She told Daily Star: “It’s still happening. I think the biggest changes of me are happening now, now that the rollercoaster and the adrenaline of chemotherapy and losing your hair, cold caps, chemicals, busy hospitals, once all of that has quieted down.”
She’s partnered with GenesisCare’s new breast cancer campaign urging women to understand the hidden cancer risk of having dense breasts. The new ‘Keep Abreast of your Breast Density’ campaign is encouraging ladies to speak up and ask the right questions after a mammogram as it’s harder to spot cancer in dense breasts.
The star said her outlook on life has changed massively, adding: “Interestingly, post cancer, the big stuff is happening to me now, how I view myself, how I view life, what I’ll put up with, what I won’t put up with…”
The mum-of-three spilled on her new life in the Valencia mountains, away from the hustle and bustle, admitting she would climb on a plane and fly there after her chemo. “I live in the mountains here. So I came back even after my chemo.
“You’re not really supposed to travel. I’d have my chemo at the Royal Marsden [Sutton], and I’d get back here as quickly as I could, even though I literally looked like I was dying on the plane, like just sweating, but I just wanted to get back to the mountain, because something’s happened to me being here, I’ve had more time to be reflective. Cost of living here is better, but I’m around nature a lot more.”
Asked how her health is at the moment, she said: “I feel really good. Like, life over here really suits me. I’m just about to go down in a minute with my daughter and my friend, just going down to a little fishing village, like a kind of wild beach, and we’ll do some kayaking. I do that in our spare time. I do a lot of walking in the mountains.
She said she doesn’t want to sit around worrying about whether or not she’ll get cancer again and explained that she’s grateful for her cancer journey as it’s helped her re-evaluate what’s truly important in life.
“I’m cancer free,” Samantha said, “but I always say for now, some people like saying it definitively, because it makes them feel good, and that’s great. I think for me, I still have said, I still don’t know the day I’m going to go. I still don’t know what’s going to happen. It could be next week. It could be in 50 years time, I may get cancer again. If I do, I’ll deal with it, but I’m just not going to sit around worrying about it.
“Honestly, my life’s improved enormously in a sense, I’ve actually just stopped relying on the same old rubbish that we all think is important. You just realize how silly it all is. Doesn’t matter what size your conservatory is, or if you’ve bought your own property, or if you rent, or, you know, if you’ve fallen out with your parents or your family or, you know, all of that stuff just kind of blurs into the background, because it’s just you, you’ve got you, you know, and that’s the beauty of it. You start to kind of fall in love with yourself a little bit, and you think, if I’ve got me, I’m I’m good.”
Even someone as positive as Samantha has her moments where she doesn’t want to get out of bed. These days, though, she doesn’t feel guilty about it and she’s “not going to make excuses to anyone”.
The Ronnie icon added: “I mean, obviously sometimes I’ll get bleak and I won’t get out of bed, but that’s probably just like a human thing. I’ll just eat ice cream and then, but that’s, I think that’s more human than anything. To do with the cancer, sometimes it’s just too difficult, but now, because of the cancer, I’ll just, I will just stay in bed, and I don’t feel apologetic, and I’m not going to make excuses to anyone. I’m like, This is what I want to do right now, so I’m doing it.”
Actress and breast cancer survivor Samantha Womack is campaigning for women to ask about their breast density following a mammogram, because if you have dense breasts, then getting the all clear does not necessarily mean you are cancer free. The new Keep Abreast of your Breast Density campaign from GenesisCare and Samantha Womack aims to educate women that knowledge is power when it comes to knowing their breast density, encouraging them to speak up and ask the right questions following their mammogram.
While mammograms are a great screening tool for many women, for those with dense breasts it is harder to spot anything out of the ordinary, and cancer can be missed. Dense breast tissue is found in approximately half of women who are aged forty and worryingly, women with extremely dense breasts are six times more likely to get breast cancer than those with fatty breasts.
Women in the UK are not currently informed about their breast density following a mammogram, and currently no further additional imaging is offered for women with dense breasts. GenesisCare is committing to proactively inform all women who undergo a mammogram what their breast density score is.
Womack says: “It seems totally crazy that all women aren’t being provided with this information as standard – well done GenesisCare on taking the lead on something so critical.” Having survived breast cancer after her shock diagnosis in 2022, Samantha Womack is passionate about helping others to detect the disease early.
She says: “I want women to understand the risks of dense breast and feel confident to speak up following their mammogram so they can make an informed decision whether they want to proceed with further investigative treatment. Don’t be afraid to speak up – It could save your life.
The Keep Abreast of your Breast Density campaign doesn’t just educate about the risks, but also encourages and empowers women to speak up and ask the right questions that could save their lives. Information is power and without it, tumours are being missed.”
GenesisCare has also launched a new screening service where patients who have dense breast tissue can benefit from a rapid breast MRI scan for early detection of cancer. These scans, which aren’t widely available as standard screening unless you have a very high risk of breast cancer, are now available privately at GenesisCare centres in Oxford and Windsor.
Samantha Womack is partnering with private cancer care provider GensisCare to encourage women to Keep Abreast of their Breast Density. For more information on Dense Breast and Rapid Breast MRI scans, please visit https://www.genesiscare.com/uk/breast_density_awareness
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
