The TV presenter was filming a Stand Up to Cancer special at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge when she had an emotional encounter with patient Stuart
Davina McCall recently visited patients at Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s cancer clinic in Cambridge for a special Stand Up to Cancer episode.
During one poignant interaction, Davina, who disclosed her own breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year, spoke with Stuart, a patient awaiting news on their treatment progress.
Before Stuart’s appointment, they asked Davina about her wellbeing since her diagnosis. The television host was moved to tears by the question, expressing gratitude to Stuart: “Can I just say, thank you for asking me that after everything you’ve been through? I’m really good, thank you.”
This emotional exchange followed Davina’s opening of the programme, where she recounted discovering a lump in her breast and the loss of her sister.
She shared with viewers: “Earlier this year, I found a lump in my breast. It quickly led to tests and scans and then the word that no one ever wants to hear, cancer.
“It was found early and surgeons were able to remove it. But not everyone gets that chance. I took my sister Caroline to A and E, she fainted and she couldn’t get up.
“They gave her a brain scan but then they scanned her chest and I couldn’t understand why. It turned out it was late stage lung cancer.
“She died seven weeks later. I was holding her hand. And that’s why early diagnosis matters to me.”
In November, Davina expressed on her Instagram account her anger upon learning she had cancer, reports the Mirror.
The presenter revealed the lump “came and went” but after spotting a poster encouraging women to examine their breasts, she decided to visit her GP.
“It [the lump] was still there, and then one morning I saw myself in the mirror and thought ‘I’m going to get that looked at’. I had a biopsy. I found out it was indeed breast cancer,” she explained.
“I think my message is: get checked if you’re worried. Check yourself regularly. If you are due a mammogram, then get it done.”
Earlier during the Stand Up for Cancer broadcast, Amy Dowden became visibly emotional whilst discussing how cancer had affected her aspirations of motherhood.
She revealed: “A cancer diagnosis changes you forever… I’ve been put into menopause… I don’t know if I’ll ever have the honour of becoming a mum which I desperately want to… Five weeks ago I have another mastectomy.
“I’m so grateful for another shot of live, to be able get back on the dance floor… I’m so grateful for my medical team, the doctors and nurses who have kept me alive. A cancer diagnosis changes you forever, I’m no longer the person I was and that’s not by choice.”
