BBC Countryfile star given 'horrible' cancer diagnosis after doctor urged her 'not to worry'

A BBC Countryfile star has explained her terrifying cancer diagnosis after a doctor urged her "not to worry." BBC star Julia Bradbury was told she had cancer after initial tests found a 'benign cyst' back in the summer of 2021 - during the Covid crisis.

Addressing her diagnosis with Strictly Come Dancing star Janette Manrara, and BBC Morning Live co-host Gethin Jones, Julia, 54, told the pair : "Now research suggests that one in two people in the UK will be diagnosed with the condition in their lifetime and we're having honest conversations about it, even though it's sometimes tough to talk about."

Gethin said: "Someone who has been very open about having that conversation is TV presenter Julia Bradbury. So with your diagnosis breast cancer, it was summer 2021 wasn't it? Take us back to that moment when you get the diagnosis and how life changes."

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Julia said: "So my diagnosis was slightly complicated, because I discovered a lump actually, before 2021. I discovered a lump almost a year earlier when I was away travelling and I managed to get seen and get that lump explored with a mammogram and actually an ultrasound as well.

"And the results came back that it was a benign micro cyst. Nothing to worry about. It was her consultant who emphasised the importance of monitoring this lump. She added: "But the consultant, the doctor that I saw, said we should keep an eye on it. Let's just make sure that this lump stays in the form that we think it is.

"Very unusually for me. I did put it on the bottom of the list. To cut a very long story short. I ended up having three mammograms and three ultrasounds, and everything was fine. I was just about to leave my final sort of appointment with my with my doctor to go off again for another year, and he said, I'll do one more ultrasound. And that was the ultrasound when he discovered a tiny little dark pinprick."

She said: "It turned out to be an early stage breast cancer. I was moved very swiftly through the system then, and I had a biopsy and then I had that call on a horrible Monday morning where the doctor called and said, 'Yes, we've looked at it and it is cancer'.

"It was the original lump that I had found it was in that location, so it had been missed and it was missed because I have something called dense breasts and dense breasts are very common. Over 50% of women have dense breasts, and it's the tissue of your breast. And if you do have dense breasts, it's very, very hard to detect cancer via a mammogram."