I’m lucky doctors spotted breast cancer early
TV’s Michaela Strachan on her health battle and keeping busy with work
AUTUMNWATCH presenter Michaela Strachan considers herself “lucky” after being diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago.
The 52-year-old TV favourite underwent a double mastectomy in 2014 after a routine test revealed damaged tissue.
But it was only because she lives in Cape Town, South Africa, that she found out about the health issue – two years before she would have been eligible for a mammogram on
FROM PAGE 25 the NHS. She said: “I’m very lucky I was diagnosed early and I haven’t had to be on chemo or anything like that. I am one of the lucky ones.
“In South Africa, you go privately for a routine mammogram because there isn’t a decent health system. “I went, even though I didn’t feel a lump as there was no lump.
“There was damaged tissue and it was a huge shock because I had absolutely no idea I might have something.
“I’m on a drug called Tamoxifen. I have 10 months of that to go and can’t believe it is over four years ago now.
“It has flown by but I was very fortunate. You don’t get a routine mammogram in the NHS until you are 50. If I had been in the UK, maybe I wouldn’t have discovered it until I was 50-plus and maybe it would have grown by then.”
Despite the illness, Michaela went straight back to work. As well as appearing annually on the BBC’s Springwatch and Autumnwatch programmes for the last seven years, she is currently touring with the live show Walking With Dinosaurs.
The new series of Autumnwatch sees her head to New England in the US and she has no intention of slowing down.
Michaela said: “Two weeks after having a major operation I was back working, which in retrospect was maybe not such a great idea.
“It was only some time afterwards that I realised I needed to take time off for myself and recover from this.
“You have a major operation, they stitch you up and give you painkillers. You wake up and don’t feel bad, but what has gone on inside your body is a train smash.
“There is a fine line between being stoic and going back to work and ploughing on and thinking, ‘I need to recover from this’.
“I ploughed on and should have taken more time to recover.”
The former presenter first found fame on 80s Saturday morning children’s show Wide Awake Club with Timmy Mallett.
She went on to star in The Hitman and Her show with Pete Waterman from 1988 to 1992.
In 1993, she joined children’s wildlife programme The Really Wild Show before becoming a regular reporter on BBC1’s Countryfile.
Now, she has teamed up Old Mout Cider and the Kiwis For Kiwi charity to help save the endangered kiwi bird.
It’s one of 46 “national animals” that have been placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature “Red List” of vulnerable, threatened and endangered species.
She is passionate about the work done to save the kiwi.
Michaela said: “The kiwi is a bird everybody knows about in New Zealand. It is their national icon yet their numbers have declined dramatically.
“They are flightless birds that didn’t have any major predators until man came along and brought things like stoats, possums, dogs and cats.
“They have been around for 50million years, since not long after the dinosaurs went. Now, they have declined 99 per cent in 50 years.
“They have gone from five million to 50,000 and every year we lose a thousand more. Old Mout, who are a New Zealand company and have the kiwi on their logo, are placing them on predator-free islands. It’s working.
Michaela said: “Over the years, I’ve supported so many projects. The Northern White Rhino became extinct in the last year.
“There is an opportunity to save the kiwi and not have it go the same way.”
Meanwhile, Michaela, who has a 13-year-old son, Oliver, to partner Nick Chevallier and three stepchildren, hopes she won’t become extinct any time soon.
She said: “I’ve had an amazing time. That’s another thing that really helped me when I was diagnosed because I know I have had an amazing experience during my years on this planet and during my career. I’ve been to amazing places and done amazing things.
“If I didn’t have much longer then I’d be a little more at peace with that than a lot of people who think they’ve still got loads to do.
“Obviously, I’ve got a child. I don’t want my time on the planet to be short, but if it was I’ve had a really great time.”