Ali Bastian has shared pictures from a reunion with former Hollyoaks co-star Sarah Jayne Dunn.
The actress, who is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer, welcomed Sarah and her mum Dotty to her home in West Cork in Ireland over the weekend.
Ali, who portrayed Becca Dean on the Channel 4 soap between 2001 and 2007, said their visit had been an ‘absolute amazing lift’.
Sharing snaps of them enjoying a walk in the countryside together, Ali wrote: ‘What an absolutely beautiful weekend with my dearest friend @sarahjaynedunn and the unstoppable, incredible, kindest @dotty2510.
‘Thank you so much for the absolute amazing lift you have given me; helping us with the girls, waving your magic wands over our home. We so appreciate you.💖💖💖
‘Thank you for coming to our little corner of West Cork. Love you both so much xxxxxxx cannot wait to catch up again soon xxxx safe travels home!!!’
Sarah is best known for playing Hollyoaks’ Mandy Richardson – a role she originally held between 1996 and 2008, before making a return from 2010 to 2011, and again from 2017 to 2021.
Ali, 42, went public with her breast cancer diagnosis last September, confirming that she discovered a lump while breastfeeding her baby.
‘It was a total shock,’ Ali told OK! Magazine at the time.
‘I have mornings when I wake up and I’ve forgotten… and then suddenly I remember. I’m still trying to process it.’
Before Christmas, Ali revealed that she had reached the halfway point in her latest cycle of treatment and thus marked the occasion by ringing a bell.
‘I got to ring (the tiny little bell I stole from my kid’s music box as they don’t do the [bell] thing here in Ireland) after five months of chemotherapy,’ she wrote on Instagram.
‘I’m still halfway through this last cycle, so much still to process on every level. Chemo is major.
‘The oncology nursing team at the Dunmanway CUH are INCREDIBLE, I said to them as I left… it’s not that I never want to see them again because I love them all so much, I just hope the next time I do we all have a glass of Prosecco in our hands raising money and awareness for all their incredible work.
‘For anyone going through this, you think the end will never come and then through the fog… the goal posts appear. You are not alone. Thank you all so, so much. I read every kind word of support and it honestly gets me through xxxxxxx.’
