Sarah Ferguson has vowed to use her own experience of breast cancer to encourage others to get screened. The Duchess of York, 63, has undergone an operation after being diagnosed with an early form of the disease during a routine mammogram. A source close to the Duchess told the Mirror she is recovering well and pledged to use her experience to help women aged 50 to 70 recognise the importance of getting regular checks.
In the latest episode of her podcast Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah, broadcast on Monday but recorded the day before her operation last week, Sarah said she wanted every single person listening to get screened.
She described her experience as “a real gift” which will change her life and that it is important to talk about such things.
The Duchess reportedly left the King Edward VII Hospital in Marylebone, London, on Sunday and is said to be recovering with her family at Royal Lodge in Windsor.
Women younger than 50 are at lower risk of breast cancer, according to the NHS, with mammograms harder to read in under 50s. About 2,300 women aged 39 and under are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year.
A major cancer research project in memory of Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding will look for early signs of breast cancer in young women.
Harding died from the disease aged 39 in 2021 and one of her final wishes was to find new ways of spotting breast cancer early, when it is more treatable.
The new Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in Young Women (Bcan-Ray) project will become one of the first in the world to identify which women are at risk of getting the disease in their 30s.
The Duchess of York had a single mastectomy and told her podcast listeners it was important to talk about her experience.
She said: “I am telling people out there because I want every single person that is listening to this podcast to go and get checked, go and get screened, go do it.
She added: “I’m taking this as a real gift to me to change my life, to nurture myself.”
Sarah said she will “stop trying to fix everyone else” and start taking herself seriously.
She shared her aim to get “super fit, super strong” and spoke about her love of play and a “sense of adventure with nature”.
She said: “Now is my chance, and this extraordinary position I’m in right now, it means there’s no choice.
“I can’t make another excuse. I have to go through this operation and I have to be well and strong.
“And therefore no choice is the best choice.”
She suggested she would travel to Austria where there are “extraordinary mountains to climb”, or Scotland or Wales.
She added it is “vital that we need to wake everybody up to screen” not just for breast cancer, but all checks.
A spokesman for the Duchess said on Sunday: “Sarah, Duchess of York was recently diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer detected at a routine mammogram screening.
“She was advised she needed to undergo surgery, which has taken place successfully.
“The Duchess is receiving the best medical care and her doctors have told her that the prognosis is good. She is now recuperating with her family.
“The Duchess wants to express her immense gratitude to all the medical staff who have supported her in recent days.
“She is also hugely thankful to the staff involved in the mammogram which identified her illness, which was otherwise symptom-free, and believes her experience underlines the importance of regular screening.”
