Former Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian has shared a heartbreaking update on her battle with cancer.
The actress, 42, portrayed Becca Dean on the Channel 4 soap for 6 years, and has also had roles in The Bill and Doctors.
The character featured in a number of memorable storylines during her stint on the show, most notably giving birth to a child, Charlie, with her student Justin Burton.
In September, Ali shared her diagnosis with stage two breast cancer, confirming that she discovered a lump while breastfeeding her daughter Isabella.
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.
Yesterday, she told fans on Instagram that she ‘doesn’t feel like a fighter’.
Wearing a pink headscarf after bravely shaving her hair, she wrote: ‘Some days you don’t feel like the fighter people tell you you are, and that’s ok.’
‘This is not an easy path. There is cortisol in tears and they are better out than in.’
Recently, to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the star posted a video of the moment she had her hair shaved.
‘When you have breast cancer, every month is breast cancer awareness month,’ she wrote on Instagram. ‘Hair loss is just one aspect of all of this that we all wish wasn’t a side effect but I know it’s not forever and a small price to pay for the chance to be well again.
‘The deeper I get into my treatment, the more I see this as an outward expression of how stripped back and raw it feels right now.
‘Also sharing as this feels like part of my way… not ‘back’ to myself… as I will be forever changed… but forward towards my future …to show up as I am right now. In the truth of today. For all of the warrior women going through this. You are not alone.’
Ali is currently undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions ahead of a mastectomy and radiotherapy treatment early next year.
