The TV presenter says she's been 'totally overwhelmed' by the response since her cancer diagnosis was revealed last month
Broadcaster Pamela Ballantine opened up on her road to recovery following her recent cancer diagnosis as she marked another milestone earlier this week.
"It's been a very strange 2023 and ringing the bell on Monday was another milestone and box ticked on the road to recovery," she told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster on Thursday morning. "But I realised that ringing the bell is an important thing for so many people who are sitting there waiting to go through the treatment and not knowing what's going to happen to them or what the treatment is going to be like."
She added: "I've surprised myself with how I've reacted to it because it came as a complete bolt from the blue. I had no lumps, no symptoms, nothing so I wasn't prepared to get the news 'you have cancer'. Of course I balled my lamps out for quite a long time and anytime I talked to anyone about it I couldn't stop crying.
"I've seen so many people, friends of mine unfortunately who have had cancer, and when people find out they've got cancer, they're treated differently. They're treated like the illness, not the person that they are and I just didn't want that to happen. I'm still me going out and doing my work and that's basically how I coped."
"It has been so encouraging and lovely hearing other people's stories as well and also hearing from people who said 'my mum went for a mammogram after she heard your story, she's been avoiding it'. Men have also been going for health checks they've been avoiding because they heard my story and the fact I didn't have any symptoms.
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