Former glamour model Nicola McLean has opened up about a terrifying cancer scare that left her fearing for her life. The 43-year-old found a lump in her breast last November and admits she immediately feared the worst.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, she shared: “I found a lump on my breast while I was moisturising and immediately I broke down in tears and thought, ‘What if it’s cancer?’. Straight away I thought, ‘I’m going to die.'”
“Something like this makes my mind go into overdrive. As someone who has anxiety anyway, this was just awful,” she added.
The mother of two, who starred on Celebrity Big Brother in 2012 and again in 2017, has been married to ex-footballer Tom Williams since 2009. They have two children, Rocky, 18, and Striker, 14. Despite informing her husband immediately after discovering the lump, Nicola confesses she couldn’t bring herself to tell their sons.”
Tom was amazing he’s so supportive and we talk about everything. He’s the calm one and was telling me, ‘We don’t know what it is yet,’ and being really rational.
I didn’t tell the kids. I would never tell the kids something like this I wouldn’t want to worry them, reports the Mirror.
know I have anxiety, and I’ll tell them when I’m feeling anxious because I think it’s good to talk about it, but I’d never worry them with something like this. “Nicola breathed a sigh of relief when doctors assured her that the lump was benign, not cancerous. “I went to the GP, who referred me to the cancer unit.
They were great really quick with everything,” she recounted. “It was a massive relief. But being referred to a cancer unit is scary in itself.
The doctor said if the lump had been larger than 4cm it would have had to be removed, but it wasn’t, thankfully.
The I’m a Celeb star has never shied away from discussing her cosmetic enhancements, including her three breast augmentations which resulted in a 32GG bust. Nicola admits that the size of her implants complicates self-examinations, saying, “My implants are so big that it’s hard to know what is mine and what isn’t, which made me not check as much.
Having witnessed her own mother’s harrowing fight with cancer, she has often found herself avoiding confronting her health concerns.
“My mum had breast cancer and it was a really gruelling time,” Nicola shared. “She had chemotherapy and then radiotherapy and lost all her hair it was awful. Thankfully, she is fine now and got through it. She’s so inspiring. But that made me worry more because it is hereditary, so of course my mind went straight to cancer when I found the lump.”
“You’d think because my mum had it, I’d be more conscious about checking my boobs and keeping an eye on my health. But I went the opposite way.
“I bury my head in the sand when things like this happen and try to put things off for as long as possible. I just think, ‘I’m going to be okay and live forever,’ but this has been a real wake-up call for me.
“I never prioritise self-care, I’m always at the bottom of the pile,” she admits. “I find it difficult to focus on myself, but this has made me realise how important my health is. Being here is more important than anything.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
