Victoria Derbyshire has admitted she was simply glad to be 'alive' as she opened up about a huge change brought on by a devastating health diagnosis. Her comments came as she discussed the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham's wife, marketing executive Marie-France van Heel, and an incredibly brave decision she made when she was just 40.
Van Heel lost her sister, Claire, to breast cancer in 2006, while her mum and another sister, Louise, were also diagnosed with the condition. Van Heel, who was also at risk, opted to have a pre-emptive double mastectomy. Victoria knows first-hand what a breast cancer diagnosis entails, having been diagnosed herself in 2015.
Chemotherapy side effects and mastectomy
She recently reflected on the side effects of chemotherapy, describing how her hair began to fall out and leave 'clumps' in the sink. She would undergo a single mastectomy, but didn't 'give a stuff' about changes to her appearance. What mattered was that she was alive.
Victoria wrote in The i Paper: 'The chemo I was going through to keep me alive having had breast cancer had caught up with me, and I was pretty devastated. Would I need to wear a wig? Will it ever grow back properly? These were just two of the questions that raced around my mind. My appearance had already changed - I'd undergone a single mastectomy and I knew I looked different which somehow didn't bother me as much. That breast had cancer in it and I was glad it was gone. I didn't really give a stuff about whether I looked lopsided, I was alive and I was going to see my boys grow up.'
Diagnosis and recovery
The BBC Newsnight host was 46 when she was diagnosed, after spotting symptoms including an inverted nipple. She went on to have chemotherapy, a mastectomy and 30 radiotherapy sessions. Victoria, who previously appeared in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, thankfully, received the all-clear 10 months after her diagnosis.
She told The Times in 2019: 'I have now found the secret to banishing the aches – exercise. Going to the gym regularly is a first for me. It’s a joy and a relief that the stretching and strengthening of muscles has dramatically reduced the pain.'
Tribute to Sir Alex Younger
It comes after Victoria shared a touching tribute on air. In June, at the end of Newsnight, Victoria paid tribute to Sir Alex Younger, former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, whom she called a 'friend' of the show. Sir Alex, who sadly died aged 62, offered 'incredible expertise and wisdom', she added.
Victoria said: 'Before we go, we wanted to pay tribute to a man we considered a friend of Newsnight: Sir Alex Younger, former head of MI6, who we learned today had died of cancer at the age of just 62. As an ex-Chief of Secret Intelligence Service, he regularly sat alongside me on this sofa, and in the middle of tumultuous world events, shared his incredible expertise and wisdom, and whatever was going on, however frightening or volatile, he always managed to make you feel slightly better about it.'
