Former Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding has opened up about how she initially dismissed pain in her body before being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Sarah, who is 39, revealed her breast cancer diagnosis in August, sadly adding that it had also spread to other parts of her body.
In her new book Hear Me Out, Sarah has opened up about how she dismissed pain around her breast as a cyst, before realising she was "in denial".
In an extract, Sarah explains: "At first I thought it was just a cyst. I’d been playing my guitar a lot, and I 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. I slept on the sofa, popping painkillers like they were Smarties. I really overdid it, but the pain was overwhelming. Eventually, my skin started to bruise, and by now I was terrified."
In the excerpt of the book published by The Times, Sarah continues, explaining how she realised she was "in denial".
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"I’d been staying at my mum’s through lockdown, but Covid wasn’t showing any signs of going away, and it was just getting worse," she explains. "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."
Sarah continues, saying that she thought her pain was a cyst. "All through the tests, I was, of course, praying that it wasn’t cancer. I think the fact that what I had was so painful gave me some hope it might not be. I’d read that cancer lumps are often not painful, which is why I was hoping against hope that what I had was just a cyst of some kind," she explains.
In the book, Sarah also shockingly reveals how she almost died of sepsis and that she was then placed in a coma for two weeks, prior to having chemotherapy and a mastectomy.
She also tragically shares how her doctor told her in December that the upcoming Christmas "would probably be my last".
Sarah first announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer back in August, writing on Twitter and Instagram: "There’s no easy way to say this and actually it doesn’t even feel real writing this, but here goes.
"Earlier this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer and a couple of weeks ago I received the devastating news that the cancer has advanced to other parts of my body. I’m currently undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions and I am fighting as hard as I possibly can."
We're sending Sarah lots of love.
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Emily Gulla was Cosmopolitan UK’s Former Editorial Assistant/Junior Entertainment and Lifestyle Writer, covering celebs, TV and film for the site, magazine and video. She’s interviewed the casts of your favourite TV shows, from Bridgerton to Derry Girls and Stranger Things, as well as dozens of Love Islanders. She also loves getting stuck into long-read features, writing on all things digital culture (including her favourite topic: memes), and dating - having appeared on the radio to discuss dating.
Emily's work has also been published on ELLE, Women's Health, Harper's Bazaar, Digital Spy and more. She holds a First Class degree in English with Film Studies from King's College London, and even wrote her dissertation on Love Island. You can find Emily on Instagram and LinkedIn, and can see more of her work on her website.
