TV presenter Julia Bradbury's documentary charting her journey from breast cancer diagnosis to her operation airs on ITV on Thursday, April 28, and viewers should expect to see the no-nonsense presenter being just that about her health challenge, resulting in an amazingly open and honest account of what she, and millions of other women go through.
Airing on ITV, the TV presenter kept a video diary of her journey from the very early days of her diagnosis, to her preparations for a potentially life-saving single mastectomy, the diary entries show the support from her family, mum Julia and sister Gina and Julia speaks about how difficult it was telling her children.
But it's the accounts at hospital, where Julia, 51, prepares for her op that are most starkly open as she talks about losing part of her body, hugging her children before isolating in preparation to go under the knife and the pre-op preparations as she gets marked up so the surgeons know what and where to target in the operation.
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In the diary entry three days before the op, Julia tells viewers: "We all knew collectively I wouldn't be able to hug them again until after the operation. It's an extra layer of complication that really makes this sh*tty if that's possible. I'm scared now it's real dread that I'm feeling. And you hope that it's a dream and you're wrong."
Then on the night before the operation, Julia has an appointment to mark up her left breast and shares her thoughts which undoubtedly lots of women have had in a similar situation. "It's my last day of being me and having my full body and having all my boob," she opened up to the camera. "It's not about body image....
"There's going to be a team of surgeons, around my breast chopping it open and taking it away. Taking cancer out, but just changing me forever."
As she describes the pre-op process leaving her feeling like a 'slab of meat', Julia, who admits she cried every day since getting the diagnosis in September 2021, is still the straight-talking, no-nonsense presenter loved by TV watchers, said: "For all the women who have gone through this and are going to go through this, this is the best possible thing to get me through to the other side.."
We also see Julia's sister and mother make heartbreaking statements about Julia's diagnosis, with sister Gina breaking down saying: "It should be me, it's not fair. I'm the one who drinks not her. I just wish it was me. She's got little children. My son is 23, a great lad he's on his journey on his way in life.. she's got little ones.." And mother Chrissi said: "When she told us she had been diagnosed, I was shell shocked. I can't tell you how I felt because I didn’t even know myself. I still don’t know. Other than if someone had said, ‘Can you take it away from her and you can have it’, I’d have said yes."
During her operation to remove the cancer, Julia also had reconstructive surgery and post-op she shares with viewers how it looks and feels. "It's going to take a bit of getting used to," in the inspirational scenes. Following her operation, Julia is also told that the cancer was completely removed by the op, but her doctor did add that there were a few cells which might need treating - but that came with side effects.
"I wish I could say you I have the mastectomy and the prognosis is really good and I can just get on with my life. The reality is there is a chance of that breast cancer coming back.," Julia said. "The reoccurrence risk that is the thing now that hangs over me, so I've thrown myself into the research about my kind of cancer."
You can watch Julia's full documentary on ITV at 9pm, Thursday, April 28.
