HOLLYOAKS star Ali Bastian has been diagnosed with stage two breast cancer, leaving her in “total shock”. The actress, who has also appeared on the BBC One series Doctors and took part in the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, found a lump when she was breast feeding her daughter Isabella. 3 Ali Bastian has revealed she is being treated for breast cancer Credit: Splash News 3 Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian with her first daughter Isla Credit: Instagram 3 Ali played school teacher Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap Credit: Lime Pictures The 42-year-old star is undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions and is set to undergo a mastectomy and radiotherapy treatment early next year.
She told OK! magazine: “It was a total shock. I have mornings when I wake up and I’ve forgotten..
. and then suddenly I remember. I’m still trying to process it.
” Initially, doctors believed it could be a blocked duct but after antibiotics failed to stop the soreness she had tests done at a specialist clinic that revealed she had cancer. Her husband David O’Mahony said: “I was with the kids and Ali stuck her head round the door and said that cancerous cells had turned up in the biopsy. "She said it in the most subtle way so the girls didn’t twig.
I could see how scared and in shock she was. "It’s so tempting to try and ‘positive’ your way through news like this but it just hit us like a sledgehammer. "I just had a feeling of it being so unfair that Ali had been dealt this hand.
” Ali played the character of Becca Dean on the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks from 2001 to 2007. Most read in News TV TEETH INTO ROLE Kelly Macdonald reveals huge surprise from new vampire movie The Radleys NATURAL BEAUTY 'Simply gorgeous' Danni Menzies ageing backwards in fresh-faced snap LUCKY IN LOVE Lorraine Kelly shares touching message to husband days after becoming gran REAL ROSIE Rosie Kelly Smith praised by fans as she shows off 'real' post-pregnancy body She moved from London to rural Ireland with her husband and two daughters, Isla and Isabella earlier this year. Ali revealed in an Instagram post she suffered “major burn out” due to her life in London and challenges following her second pregnancy being some of the reasons the family left the capital.
She had spoken excitedly in May about living in house "overlooking the ocean on the West Coast of Ireland" before her devastating cancer news which came in June. Ali is now receiving care from the Orchid Centre at Cork University Hospital. She is full of praise for all the medical staff she’s met throughout the process although she admits she still sometimes feels "frightened" about what is ahead.
But she is trying to stay possible and says journaling about what she is going through has been helpful, as has the advice of nurses looking after her. Ali said: “I feel like they’re treating me like one of their own. It’s like I’ve been scooped up.
I’ve been blown away by the care and kindness – every kind word and cup of tea means a lot. We love it here.” After beginning chemotherapy Ali says some of her hair has started to come out but for now she is trimming with David's help, rather than shaving it off.
She also said she did not like to refer to herself as being in a 'battle' with cancer instead saying it is a process she needs to "adapt to". Read more on the Scottish Sun PITCH OFF 'Is this allowed?' cries NC500 local after brazen camper pitches tent near home HOME WIN Rangers star James Tavernier splashes out £1million for flat in pricey city spot Ali praised her former Hollyoask co-stars including Sarah Jayne Dunn, Carley Stenson and Jodi Albert, who also lives in Ireland, for rallying around and offering support. And looking ahead she is positive about the future and is looking forward to a return to acting once she is "out of the other side".
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