Former Coronation Street star Victoria Ekanoye dazzled in purple as she walked the red carpet at the Pride of Britain Awards this week - and there's a reason she chose a colour on the pink colour spectrum. Pink is the colour of breast cancer awareness.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and it was on October 13 last year that Victoria, from Bury, was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ - when cancer cells have developed within the milk ducts in the breast. She was diagnosed just months after giving birth to her first child Théo with her partner Jonny Lomas.
Ahead of her double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery in December she was the belle of the ball at her 'Bye Bye Boobies' party at BLVD in Spinningfields to raise funds for Prevent Breast Cancer and Sickle Cell Care Manchester. Victoria, 40, who played Angie Appleton in Coronation Street before leaving the cobbles in 2019, instantly knew something was wrong after finding a lump while feeding her baby boy who she welcomed last January.
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As the fifth person in her family to have breast cancer and the ninth to have cancer, she had yearly mammograms and would check herself every month. In 2020 she was announced as a patron for Manchester-based charity Prevent Breast Cancer, dedicated to the prediction and prevention of the disease, because her family had been touched by cancer.
"I went for two ultrasounds and I knew something wasn't right," she said about her diagnosis. "I went to the One Stop Breast Clinic, through my GP, for a third opinion." She had a mammogram, needle tests and she was diagnosed the week after.
"Over a week or two the lump was growing and it was protruding through the skin," she recalled. Then a second lump was found in the same breast. Victoria, who is being treated by The Christie, will take the hormone therapy tablet Tamoxifen every day for the next five years as an alternative to chemotherapy
She explained about her treatment, which will cause her to go into early menopause: "There's no chemotherapy, radiotherapy but I'm on hormone therapy medication, one tablet for the next five years, and one injection a month. The Tamoxifen stops cancer cells feeding off oestrogen and the injections turn off the ovaries.
She added: "Women deal with this all the time and this is what I have to do. The symptoms pale in comparisson to how wonderful Théo is."
Victoria, who played Angie in Coronation Street from 2017 until 2019. says her mum Candy, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 when she was 41 and is now cancer free, has been her constant support throughout her treatment. The stage and screen actress, who starred in The Lion King on the West End and played Rachel in TV drama The Royals alongside Liz Hurley, has been told that she has helped others by speaking out about her diagnosis.
The star says she and her mum now want to get to the bottom of cancer affecting their family after being told they don't have the breast cancer gene BRCA. And she is urging others to check their breasts.
"It's very easy to check and you should check monthly a week after your period," said Victoria, who teamed up with ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly on her Change and Check campaign. "I'm the ninth person in the family to have cancer and we are in talks with the family because it's important for the next generation to get to the bottom of it. I'm so grateful I found mine at an early stage."
Victoria and her mum will attend the BooBee Bingo Bedlam event, an evening of bingo with an 80s twist, for Prevent Breast Cancer on Saturday November 19 at Manchester Central Convention Centre. The signs and symptoms to look for are visible changes in shape or size, skin changes such as dimpling, puckering or rash around the nipple, lumps or bumps and bloody discharge from the nipple.
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