Girls Aloud star Sarah:I may not see Christmas
Singer says cancer has reached her spine and she has just months left
GIRLS Aloud star Sarah Harding has revealed that doctors have told her she may not celebrate another Christmas after being diagnosed with cancer.
The singer, 39, announced in August that she had breast cancer, and now says it has spread to her spine. In an extract of her memoir, Hear Me Out, published in The Times yesterday, she wrote: ‘In December my doctor told me the upcoming Christmas would probably be my last.
‘I don’t want an exact prognosis. I don’t know why anyone would. Comfort and being as pain-free as possible is what’s important to me now.’
Harding said she had put off seeing a doctor because of the pandemic but went to hospital because she thought she had a cyst and was relying heavily on painkillers.
‘I’d been playing my guitar a lot and thought the strap had probably irritated an area around my breast. The trouble was, the pain was getting worse. It got so bad that I couldn’t sleep in a bed any more,’ she said.
‘One day I woke up realising that I’d been in denial. Yes, there was a lockdown, yes, there was a pandemic, but it was almost as if I’d been using that as an excuse not to face up to the fact that something was very wrong.’
Harding revealed that she almost died of sepsis after a catheter that was fitted to administer chemotherapy drugs became infected. As her lungs and kidneys began to fail, she was put into an induced coma for almost two weeks. She said that she had hoped to avoid a mastectomy and now struggles to look in the mirror because ‘I just don’t look like me any more’.
She will not undergo radiotherapy on her skull for a secondary tumour because she does not want to lose her hair. The singer added: ‘It might seem vain thinking about my hair, but my thinking was that if there’s a chance I’ve only got six months, then I’ve got six months. Losing my hair probably wasn’t going to change that.’ Harding admitted that it was ‘scary’ to go public with her diagnosis but wanted to encourage people who had any concerns to seek help.
She said she was focused on ‘trying to live and enjoy every second of my life, however long it might be. I am having a glass of wine or two during all this because it helps me relax’. She added: ‘I’m sure some people might think that’s not a great idea but I want to try to enjoy myself. I’m at a stage now where I don’t know how many months I have left. Who knows, maybe I’ll surprise everyone, but that’s how I’m looking at things.’