Former BBC Breakfast presenter Sian Williams has revealed that she has had a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Speaking publicly for the first time about the disease, the newsreader explained that her biggest fear was not seeing her two young children grow up.
In an interview with Woman and Home magazine, the mother-of-four said that despite a family history of cancer, she and her husband Paul Woolwich never imagined she would get it.
Sian Williams (Nick Ansell/PA)
She said: “The week after my 50th birthday I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I thought I was healthy. I did all the right things – I was a green tea drinker, a salmon eater, a runner.”
The 51-year-old also told the publication she thought it was so “improbable” that she had the disease that she did not take her husband with her to receive the results of a biopsy, the Daily Mail reports.
Sian, who currently anchors News on Channel 5, continued: “My biggest fear was not being there as a mum – and for some unfathomable reason, I couldn’t stop thinking that I want to be here for my daughter Evie to watch her get married.
“My aunt died of breast cancer, and I’d lost my mum to liver and bowel cancer – and I gradually began to realise how bewildered and scared I was.”
She further told the magazine that nobody apart from her children’s teacher knew she had undergone a double mastectomy.
The Welsh presenter explained that at the time she was “horrible” to her husband because she was intent on being strong.
She added: “Paul is an extraordinary man. I have learnt I need to let him know if I need support or an outstretched hand to help me up.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel