Former EastEnders actress Samantha Womack has shared an update with her fans after she confirmed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The star who played Veronica 'Ronnie' Mitchell on the hit BBC soap announced in August that she had been diagnosed with the disease following the death of Olivia Newton-John.
Now, the 49-year-old has appeared on This Morning to speak with hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on the sofa on Tuesday to talk about her cancer diagnosis.
She said she is ‘really good’ after being diagnosed four months ago, adding: “It was really incredible because I didn’t find a lump, I didn’t feel unwell.
“There had been a lot of illness around our friends and family and I just thought I’d get a random check and I had an ultrasound, and it showed a little shadow.
“At that point it could be anything. Then I had further investigations and then that diagnosis.”
She continued: “I was lucky, it was less than two centimetres. I had a lumpectomy, which is just a piece of tissue removed and five lymph nodes.
“The mad thing about cancer when you have it, is you understand there are so many different roads, different diagnoses, it is a terrifying world.
“It’s terrifying at the beginning but if there was ever a time to have it, there are so many new treatments now that are changing the face of cancer, it’s amazing.”
The former soap star is now getting back to work in a stage version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
Samantha announced her diagnosis on social media, posting a photo of the late Olivia Newton John after her death in August.
Explaining why she decided to pay tribute to the late star, she described meeting her at the beginning of her own cancer journey.
She explained: “ I’d been with Olivia, just for dinner after a show I’d done. I played Sandy in Grease.
“It was just at the beginning of her diagnosis and what struck me was her journey had been 30 years and she was at the end and I was just at the beginning, and it took me back.
“I felt very moved by it. I thought, ‘I want to share it. I want to talk to people. I want to put it out there’ and it was amazing, the love that came back. I felt empowered by it.”
