Soap actress Ali Bastian has shared footage of herself shaving her head amid her ongoing battle with breast cancer.
The Hollyoaks star posted a video on Instagram with a montage of clips showing the actress cutting her hair short before shaving it completely.
The 42-year-old told her followers she wished that hair loss was not a side effect of her treatment but added that it is a “small price to pay for the chance to be well again”.
In an emotional post the actress said: “When you have breast cancer, every month is breast cancer awareness month.”
“The deeper I get into my treatment, the more I see this as an outward expression of how stripped back and raw it feels right now,” she continued.
“Also sharing as this feels like part of my way… not ‘back’ to myself… as I will be forever changed… but forward towards my future …to show up as I am right now.
“In the truth of today. For all of the warrior women going through this. You are not alone.”
Bastian has been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer and previously said she was undergoing chemotherapy and was set to have radiotherapy treatment and a mastectomy after finding a lump while breastfeeding her daughter, Isabella.
She moved to West Cork, Ireland, this year with her family including actor, writer and director husband David O’Mahony, who she married in 2019, and also shares another daughter, Isla Rose, with.
It was in Ireland that the 2009 Strictly Come Dancing semi-finalist became concerned when her daughter was feeding “like crazy” and she felt her breast hurting.
She told OK! Magazine that at first, it was thought it might be a “blocked duct” but when it did not clear up, her doctor agreed to send her for further help.
Bastian previously said there is a “really tough time in which you have the diagnosis but you’re not sure what will happen next”.
The actress, who says the breast cancer is hormone-driven, also previously 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 Now said it is “important to be aware of any new or unusual changes to your breasts when you’re breastfeeding”, and added that the condition “is uncommon in younger women”.
