Former Coronation Street star Victoria Ekanoye has revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The 39-year-old actress is preparing for a double mastectomy after finding a lump in her left breast while feeding her newborn son Theodore.
Ekanoye, best known for playing Angie Appleton in the long-running ITV soap explained that the death of Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding, who died from breast cancer in September, also encouraged her to get answers about the lump.
Ekanoye who was in the soap between 2017 and 2019 told OK! magazine: “This is going to sound so cheesy, but I almost feel like having Theo and breastfeeding him has saved me.
“Had I never been fortunate enough to be able to breastfeed, those lumps would never have come up the way they did.”
Death of Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding inspired Corries actress
She added that the death of Harding also affected her, saying: “We’re the same age. It was really alarming for me, as it was for everyone. And so sad. Really sad.
“If anything it made me determined to get to the bottom of things with my health.”
The birth of her son had also been traumatic and she said it feels “almost inconceivable” to have to go through another intense medical issue so soon afterwards.
She added: “It feels unfair. It’s already so hard being a parent. When this happened I just thought, ‘Can we get a bit of a break please!’
“I feel a bit overwhelmed and I’m scared because, as optimistic as the outlook is, you can’t predict the future.
“I just want to be here. I’ve got a life to live and a family to love and look after.”
Being a mum motivated Victoria Ekanoye to seek medical advice
Ekanoye said she plans to have her breast reconstructive surgery at the same time as the double mastectomy so as not to put her through surgery twice due to the increased risk caused by her sickle cell disease.
She said her newborn motivated her through the diagnosis, adding: “He is the cutest, sweetest little thing. He’s growing so quickly and he’s so advanced and it’s blowing our minds.
“Those little moments with him… it’s bittersweet as I think, ‘I want to be around forever for him’ but he also gets me through.
“I’m so grateful. Not everyone has something so positive to anchor onto. He’s like my little guardian angel, keeping my head above water.”
Ekanoye has also planned a fundraiser for November 18 for Prevent Breast Cancer and Sickle Cell Care Manchester, both of which she is a patron of, to celebrate medical progress in these areas and also as a “send-off” party for her breasts.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel