Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian has revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer after discovering a lump while breastfeeding her baby.
The actress, who played Becca Dean on the Channel 4 soap, will undergo a mastectomy and radiation treatment next year and is currently having chemotherapy.
‘It was a total shock,’ she said of receiving her diagnosis. ‘I have mornings when I wake up and I’ve forgotten… and then suddenly I remember. I’m still trying to process it.’
The soap star discovered the lump when breastfeeding youngest daughter Isabella, who was born in February last year.
At first, doctors believed the lump to be a blocked duct but, following a round of antibiotics, she had further tests done at a specialist clinic, which ultimately confirmed the presence of cancerous cells.
Ali’s husband David O’Mahoney was with her when she received her diagnosis over the phone.
‘She said it in the most subtle way so the girls didn’t twig,’ he told OK! Magazine. ‘I could see how scared and in shock she was. It’s so tempting to try and ‘positive’ your way through news like this but it just hit us like a sledgehammer.
‘I just had a feeling of it being so unfair that Ali had been dealt this hand.’
Ali, who also starred in Doctors, made it clear that she intends to beat cancer, revealing her desire to return to acting.
‘I will get through this and come out the other side,’ she said. ‘After my diagnosis, I went on Instagram and saw a post by my friend Dominic Power, my former co-star in The Bill, and I could see he was on set in Hollyoaks.
‘I suddenly had a real pang of, “I want to look into an actor’s eyes and do a scene.” I really miss it.’
Ali rose to fame on Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, playing Becca Dean for a total of six years.
Becca featured in several huge storylines during her stint on the show, including an inappropriate relationship with student Justin Burton.
She shared. when Hollyoaks re-aired selected episodes from storylines that were being addressed during the Covid-19 pandemic while new episodes of the show were being filmed: ‘I think the great thing – and still the great thing – about Hollyoaks is I think they pursue storylines and break new ground’.
