Actress Ali Bastian says she has been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer and is receiving chemotherapy ahead of a mastectomy and radiotherapy.
The Hollyoaks star, who played teacher Becca Dean from 2001 to 2007, discovered a lump while breastfeeding her daughter, Isabella.
Bastian, 42, told OK! magazine that “it was a total shock” when she was told the news in June, adding, “I have mornings when I wake up and I’ve forgotten… and then suddenly I remember. I’m still trying to process it”.
The actress moved to West Cork, Ireland, earlier this year along with her husband, actor, writer and director David O’Mahony, and two young daughters, four-year-old Isla and 19-month-old Izzy.
Bastian told the magazine she became concerned when her daughter was feeding “like crazy” and she felt her breast hurting.
She said: “It was a bank holiday in Ireland so I went straight to the emergency doctor.
“It really seemed like I had mastitis [swelling of the breast common when breastfeeding], especially as I had been night-weaning Izzy before that. We thought I probably had a blocked duct. The doctor gave me antibiotics and said that if it didn’t clear up in a few days I should go to the breast clinic.
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“But it wasn’t clearing up and the more I felt it, the more it felt like this wasn’t just a blocked duct. I went to my GP and I said, ‘Actually, can I go to the clinic now?’ and she was very supportive of that.”
Bastian also said there is a “really tough time in which you have the diagnosis but you’re not sure what will happen next”.
She added: “For me, that’s where the difficult journey with trust came in. It’s not something that always comes naturally to me – so I have to remind myself daily to trust in my team, trust in the plan and trust it will all be OK.”
The actress says her fellow Hollyoaks stars Sarah Jayne Dunn, Carley Stenson and Jodi Albert have been supportive.
Bastian said: “After my diagnosis, I went on Instagram and saw a post by my friend Dominic Power, my former co-star in The Bill, and I could see he was on set in Hollyoaks. I suddenly had a real pang of, ‘I want to look into an actor’s eyes and do a scene’… I really miss it.”
The actress says the breast cancer is hormone-driven, and her maternal aunt and grandmother also had breast cancer.
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She said she does not want to “frighten new mums”, but the condition can be “trickier to diagnose” as the tissue “just feels different anyway”.
Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer in women, according to the NHS.
Stage 2 breast cancer is an early form of the condition and can mean the disease is either in the breast or in the nearby lymph nodes, or both, according to Cancer Research UK.
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Bastian’s most memorable Hollyoaks storyline saw her character fired from her teaching job and sent to prison after having an affair with one of her students.
She appeared in The Bill, A Touch Of Frost and Cavegirl after moving on from Hollyoaks, and was a semi-finalist on Strictly Come Dancing in 2009, finishing in third place.
Bastian married O’Mahony in 2019, joining the cast of Doctors that same year, but announced her departure from the show after just one year to concentrate on starting a family.
