Julia Bradbury felt 'horribly damaged' after mastectomy

Julia Bradbury found it difficult to look at herself after her mastectomy.

The 53-year-old TV presenter was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2021, one year after being told a lump on her breast was just a benign group of microcysts, and she admitted she struggled with her altered appearance after surgery.

Writing in the Daily Mail newspaper, she said: "What I found the hardest —impossible, for a while — was looking at myself so horribly damaged. It was nearly Christmas, eight weeks post-mastectomy, when I finally plucked up the courage to look at my reflection in a full-length mirror.

"My nipple had been saved and my left breast had been reconstructed with a silicone prosthetic, but it was still scarred, swollen and angry.

"We all deal with trauma in different ways, but I think one of the most important things you can do is to accept it as best you can. Own it. Figure out a way to go on. And make sure you ask other people to help you."

However, despite her reservations about her altered appearance, Julia insists "cancer saved [her] life".

Julia - who has written a book 'Walk Yourself Happy: Find Your Path To Health And Healing In Nature' - explained: "Cancer saved my life. That may seem a strange thing to say, but it opened my eyes to what I was doing to myself. Before diagnosis, everything I did was at breakneck speed. I wanted it all, and pushed myself emotionally and physically to reach impossible goals.

"They say: ‘Time is free, but it’s priceless.’ Looking back, I didn’t value it at all.

"I shoved at the edges of it to manipulate hours and whole weeks to suit my agenda. And I didn’t recognise what I was doing, so I wasn’t nourishing any other parts of me that might compensate or add some balance.

"What the past couple of years have taught me is that since you are a finite person in a world with almost infinite choices and possibilities, you’d be wise to prioritise those choices that serve your health and make you happy."