The 63-year-old underwent a single mastectomy at King Edward VII’s hospital in London after a routine mammogram detected a shadow on her breast.
She explained how her daughters had responded to the news: “I think it’s scary for any family member out there, you really start to look at your own demise. It’s a wake up call, and you think, how am I going to deal with this?”
Fergie also shared a clip of the podcast episode on her Instagram, posting: “I am recuperating at the moment but keen to share my story here on my podcast, in the hope it encourages everyone who can to get screened.
“Thank you doesn’t quite cover it to all of my doctors, nurses and medical professionals. I’m beyond lucky to have you. I encourage everyone to get checked.”
In the clip she says to her co-host Sarah Thomson: “We must make people realise, it’s not okay but if you’re going to get it, then catch it quick.
“Do the screening, catch it quick, and then go and say, ‘I can do this’. So I think it’s not bravery, it’s not courage. It’s about understanding that you’re not going to feel as you did for a bit.
“So don’t try and be a superhero. Take many steps, have the cup of tea, trust people.”
She admitted that her diagnosis had given her a new appreciation for life, as before going to record the podcast she had deliberately stopped the car and gone back into the house to hug her daughter Beatrice.
Fergie will be hoping to make a full recovery soon so she can get back to playing with her three grandchildren, Eugenie’s sons August and Ernest and Beatrice’s daughter Sienna.
Her condition was first detected in early May when a doctor explained that a shadow on her breast had been detected, with the Duchess learning the news just before the King’s Coronation.
A source close to her told Mail on Sunday: “Most people usually associate breast cancer with a lump but that’s not always the case.
“A lump can be detected by the patient, but this was a ‘shadow’, which can go undetected because it’s a wider spread of cancerous cells that can be picked up through screening.
“In Sarah’s case, a biopsy was taken from the shadowy area of tissue and a few days later the results came back to confirm the diagnosis – breast cancer.”
