Loose Women star Carol McGiffin has revealed the sad news that she has been battling cancer in secret for a year.
Speaking to The Sunday People, the 54-year-old TV panellist, who left the show in 2013, decided to break her silence, after discovering a lump in her left breast last February and being diagnosed with a tumour last April.
Carol has had a mastectomy and an intensive course of six rounds of chemotherapy and 15 sessions of radiotherapy. But no-one knew about her ordeal, except her family and close* Loose Women* co-stars Denise Welch and Lisa Maxwell, until now.
“I don’t want to pretend any more. I kept it a secret because I didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for me." Carol revealed.
“I feel it is over now and I’ve got through it. I just want to be able to go out without my hat on and for people not to be bothered. I just want life to get back to normal.” she added.
Carol found the lump while in the shower on holiday in Malaysia:
"I knew from the moment I saw the doctor it was cancer,” she said. “She seemed pretty shocked at the size of the lump. “It was a bit like, ‘Oh, right then. I know what this is about.’”
Carol also revealed that when she found out she had cancer, she and her fiance, Mark Cassidy, went and got "absolutely plastered", and that he has been her rock during the treatment, saying "The cancer has not fazed him at all. Mark is very matter of fact and said, ‘It is what it is and we will deal with this'".
The news comes a few months after Carol's Loose Women co-star Lynda Bellingham tragically died from her own battle with cancer last October. Carol said that she didn't want to tell Lynda at first, because "She had enough to worry about and was in a lot of pain. I suffered nothing like she did.”
But when she did tell her, Lynda said "F****** hell! Not you an’ all", and it felt "really comfortable".
Now that her treatment is over, Carol revealed that her life is quieter, but she won't be giving up drinking, admitting:
“Cancer does make you look at your lifestyle. Some people say it’s alcohol-related – but it could be anything...I could give up drinking tomorrow and still get it. I would be miserable so what would be the point?"
She added she wanted to stay positive and carry on as normal:
“So for now normal service is resumed. If it comes back I’ll deal with it. It’s not a battle. I just see it as a bit of a health hiccup.
“For now I’m going to get on with my life and enjoy every minute of it.”