Julia Bradbury laughs up a storm with a pal over coffee… following breast cancer diagnosis
Julia Bradbury looks upbeat as she joins a friend for coffee… as Countryfile star prepares to undergo a mastectomy following shock breast cancer diagnosis
<!–
<!–
<!–<!–
<!–
(function (src, d, tag){
var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0];
s.src = src;
prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev);
}(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle–.js”, document, “script”));
<!–
DM.loadCSS(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2159/video_bundle–.css”);
<!–
Julia Bradbury was accompanied by a friend as they exited Notting Hill’s Bodyism Café on Wednesday.
The Countryfile star, 51, beamed from ear-to-ear while chatting away with her pal over a cup of coffee in the west London district.
It follows the announcement that the mother-of-three has breast cancer and will face a mastectomy next month.
Beaming: Julia Bradbury appeared to be in high spirits as she laughed with a friend outside Notting Hill’s Bodyism Café on Wednesday
The presenter looked upbeat during the outing, which saw her wear a white T-shirt featuring a Wham-inspired Choose Love slogan.
Tying a grey hoodie around her waist, the TV presenter strolled her way through the Big Smoke in a pair of black biker shorts and grey trainers.
Amid the hot weather, the brunette beauty threw a black puffer jacket over her arm and wore her luscious locks in their natural waves.
Despite the cheery façade, she recently broke down in tears as she spoke of her upcoming operation during Monday’s edition of Woman’s Hour.
Looking good: The Countryfile star, 51, beamed from ear-to-ear while chatting away with her pal over a cup of coffee in the exclusive West London district
Strong: She put on a brave face during the outing, which saw her looking flawless in a white T-shirt featuring a Choose Love slogan
Glowing: Amid the hot weather, the brunette beauty threw a black puffer jacket over her arm and wore her luscious locks in their natural waves
‘Very quickly your life changes and there is this glimmer that the first thing you think about is death and the worst possible scenario’, she said.
The journalist – who has children Zeph, 10, and twins Zena and Xanthe, six, with husband Gerard Cunningham – found a lump in her breast last year which proved to be a benign cluster of cysts.
She had to have another mammogram this year and though that didn’t return anything unusual, doctors found a shadow at her follow-up appointment.
Emotional: She recently broke down in tears as she spoke of her upcoming operation during Monday’s edition of Woman’s Hour (pictured in 2019)
Speaking of the first signs, Julia said: ‘About a year ago I noticed a lump in my breast. I was away on a work trip and then I came back and we went into lockdown.
‘I admit I was a little bit sloppy. It took me a month until I spoke to my GP, who I’ve known since I was 18.
‘Fast-forward a year I still had a lump, and I had something called micro cysts.
Teary: The journalist became emotional as she talked about receiving the news
‘I was told to keep an eye on them which I did. I went for my follow mammogram which I insisted on having. I told them I had this pain that I could feel in my lump.’
‘It wasn’t until the third physical examination that a doctor discovered a shadow which turned out to be a ‘tiny lump’.
Julia needed to have a mammogram right away. ‘Within minutes I was having a biopsy, that’s when I knew I was on a different path,’ she said.
Brave: Of telling her daughters, Julia said: ‘It was the hardest conversation that I’ve ever had to have in my life. I really had to steel myself to be strong’
‘That was the first moment I felt sadness and fear because everything just changed so quickly, but of course that’s what happens with cancer.’
Breaking down in tears, the presenter said: ‘Anybody who has been through this will know that you can’t help feel fear and I’m somebody who is very positive and I’m taking it one step at a time. Human instinct.
‘The first thing I thought about was my children.’
Thinking of you: Meanwhile Phillip Schofield sent out his well wishes to Julia on This Morning
Emma Barnett went on to ask how Julia went about how she and her husband Gerard shared her diagnosis with their two children.
‘We waited to tell the children because they were about to start school, we wanted to get them in a steady place,’ she said.
‘It was the hardest conversation that I’ve ever had to have in my life. I really had to steel myself to be strong but show that you’re vulnerable as well.
‘One of my little girls said: “Can I still hug you mummy?” and I said “of course you can, I’ll need your hugs more than ever”.’
The Dublin-born star admitted her brain ‘started to explode’ when she was given the devastating diagnosis and she’s now preparing to undergo a mastectomy to remove her left breast next month, while surgeons will also remove tissue from her lymph nodes to establish whether the cancer has spread.
She said: ‘My surgery is booked for October, obviously it’s a huge thing for women. To lose a breast is a massive trauma to our emotional state.’
Meanwhile Phillip Schofield sent out his well wishes to Julia on This Morning.
Phil said: ‘Everyone here at This Morning sends their love. Lots of love to you Julia.’
The former Watchdog host admitted her brain ‘started to explode’ when she was given the devastating diagnosis and she’s now preparing to undergo a mastectomy to remove her left breast next month, while surgeons will also remove tissue from her lymph nodes to establish whether the cancer has spread.
Although Julia has been told her ‘sizeable tumour’ could be ‘trouble to treat’ because of where it is positioned, she is hopeful that it’s been caught early enough to treat.
She told Mail On Sunday: ‘I have to hope I have caught mine early enough.
‘A mastectomy is a shattering thing to go through but it means that I am going to live and be here for my children.’
But the presenter is trying not to look too far into the future and is simply focused on the next step of her treatment.
She said: ‘Cancer has so many points, the diagnosis seems like everything, but it isn’t. It puts you on a pathway and you have to navigate that while holding back your emotions so you are not overwhelmed all the time.
‘Right now I’m simply focused on having surgery because I don’t know how I am going to be, if I will have more cancer to deal with, how I will cope with recovery, how life will feel afterwards.’