22 February 2024 , 07:00
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Last year, Loose Women launched its landmark breast cancer campaign ‘Don’t Skip Your Screening’ to encourage women to book their potentially life-saving mammogram appointment when invited.
Today, Loose Women star Sunetra Sarker will continue to highlight the importance of screening - as she puts her health at the top of her to-do list and goes for her first-ever mammogram, sharing every step of the process with the viewers at home.
In November last year, Loose Women’s multi-award winning panel joined forces with Sarah, Duchess of York to launch the campaign and in the week after the special episode aired, visits to the breast screening and mammogram pages on the NHS website increased by a staggering one-third.
The brave move by Sunetra, 50, is particularly poignant for the actress and Loose Women favourite given the fact she lost two of her best friends to breast cancer last year. In a bid to encourage other women to get their breasts checked with regular mammograms, Sunetra is putting her fears aside and taking a huge step in her health journey in honour of her beloved friends who have sadly passed away from the disease.
Sunetra Sarker is undergoing her first ever mammogram and it'll be documented on Loose Women (MIRROR/ITV)Ahead of Thursday’s episode, Sunetra Sarker said: “ After losing two of my best friends last year to cancer, I had a real wake-up call about how important screening actually is. It’s very easy to hide your head in the sand over these issues but we have to do it together. We have to catch everything we can, as early as possible. You get to a certain age and it becomes even more important than it did last year, and every year that goes on. We can’t keep burying our head in the sand and I owe it to my friends to make sure I do this.”
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Sharing a message with Loose Women fans, Sunetra added: “If you’ve got any friends or family that you’ve lost [to breast cancer], you owe it to them to have a screening.”
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK. Most women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 50, but younger women can also get breast cancer.
The star had a "real wake-up call" after losing two friends to breast cancer (MIRROR/ITV)About 1 in 7 women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. There's a good chance of recovery if it's detected at an early stage. For this reason, it's vital that women check their breasts regularly for any changes and always have any changes examined by a GP.
Breast cancer can have several symptoms, but the first noticeable symptom is usually a lump or area of thickened breast tissue. Other symptoms include a change in the size or shape of one or both breasts, a lump or swelling in either of your armpits, dimpling on the skin of your breasts, or a rash on or around your nipple.
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support.
Tune in to Loose Women at 12.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX to join Sunetra as she goes for her first mammogram screening.
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