Samantha Womack has been opening up about her ongoing battle with breast cancer.
The former Eastenders star, who is best known for playing Ronnie Mitchell on the BBC soap, shared in August of this year that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and was about to undergo treatment.
Earlier today, Sam appeared on ITV’s This Morning to discuss her diagnosis.
The 49-year-old revealed the moment she discovered something was wrong with her health. “It was really incredible because I didn’t find a lump, I didn’t feel unwell,” Sam admitted to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield. “There had been a lot of illness around our friends and family and I just thought I’d get a random check and I had an ultrasound, and it showed a little shadow.”
The actress went on to reveal the treatment she has received to help fight the disease. “I was lucky, it was less than two centimetres. I had a lumpectomy, which is just a piece of tissue removed and five lymph nodes,” she shared.
Sam mentioned that although it has been a scary experience for her, she still feels fortunate. “It’s terrifying at the beginning but if there was ever a time to have it, there are so many new treatments now that are changing the face of cancer, it’s amazing,” she exclaimed.
The West End star was then asked why she decided to share her diagnosis with the world following the death of Grease actress Olivia Newton-John, who had also battled breast cancer. “I’d been with Olivia, just for dinner after a show I’d done. I played Sandy in Grease,” she reminisced.
This was the most magical of evenings. Olivia and Chloe had come to see Grease in London and we had dinner together afterwards. I was so excited and in awe, she was my childhood. I now start my own battle with this disease and am left feeling deeply moved. #OliviaNewtonJohn pic.twitter.com/7vkgT5oCMf
— Sam Womack (@Sam_Womack) August 9, 2022
“It was just at the beginning of her diagnosis and what struck me was her journey had been 30 years and she was at the end and I was just at the beginning, and it took me back,” she admitted emotionally.
“I felt very moved by it,” she said about the announcement of Olivia’s death. “I thought, ‘I want to share it. I want to talk to people. I want to put it out there’ and it was amazing, the love that came back. I felt empowered by it.”
Thankfully, Sam has stated that she is doing well after her treatment, and is hoping that she will continue on her path to recovery.
