Former Coronation Street star Victoria Ekanoye has opened up about the moment she found a lump in her breast while filming for a BBC One show.
The actress, who played Angie Appleton in the ITV soap, was diagnosed with DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) in October 2021.
DCIS sees the cells within the milk ducts turn cancerous and previously, Victoria explained the lump on her breast was so big, she didn’t have to look for it.
Her discovery of a second lump in her breast happened when Victoria was filming for Death in Paradise, where she played a character called Miranda Priestly.
The star explained that she found it while simply adjusting her microphone on set.
‘It was definitely a period of time where a million other things were going on in my mind. I didn’t even I didn’t want to think about it being breast cancer’, she told the Mirror.
‘I remember being on set for Death in Paradise and I was just adjusting my microphone, because they put it on different parts of your clothing to kind of obscure it, and I was just adjusting my mic, and I felt a second lump in the same breast.’
Due to the fact Death in Paradise films on the island Guadeloupe, it left Victoria in a position where she had to carry on filming for her job, and then address the matter when she got home.
She added: ‘I was obviously scared but also really angry at that moment because I just thought, “Well, what position am I in now? Do I go back, or is it just more of what they think?”. Because they thought it was maybe mastitis and calcification due to blocked milk ducts and things like that.
‘So, I just had to kind of take myself off into room and just have a chat with myself or a pep talk and be like, ‘Look, there’s nothing you can do about it right now.
‘You’re here to do a job. You’re here with your mum and your son, you just need to protect them. Get the job done, then get home and do something about it.’
In 2024, Victoria took to social media to reveal the news she is now cancer free.
In a post on X Victoria shared a family picture of her alongside her partner Jonny Lomas and their son Théodore.
‘Taken the day I revealed my Breast Cancer diagnosis, 2021. Just received my blood & PET scan results, I can finally say…I’m CANCER FREE,’ she penned.
‘Thank you to those who formed my safety net. I’m humbled to have such beautiful humans in my life. 2024 Let’s go!’
The star has also been busy working on a show called ‘The Naked Truth’ to highlight ‘all sides of cancer’ and, in particular, the lack of early diagnosis for people of colour.
‘Knowledge is power and we can’t possibly not inform the future generations,’ she explains.
‘We are trying to instil hope that cancer isn’t the death sentence people used to fear. The more we talk, the longer we live.’
