A tearful Kay Burley has opened up about how cancer has affected her life – after losing five of her loved ones to the disease.
The Sky News anchorwoman, 57, lost her mother Kath to breast cancer in 1993, after her grandmother died of the same condition when Kath was just 18.
Last summer Kay’s friend and Labour politician Dame Tessa Jowell died of a brain tumour at the age of 70, and a week later Kay’s friend Rochelle died of the same condition. This was shortly followed by the death of Kay’s colleague Colin Brazier’s wife Jo, who died of breast cancer weeks after Rochelle.
Kay broke down in tears on Tuesday as she spoke about losing her mother on Good Morning Britain, recalling how Kath had told her she was dying and to ‘look after daddy’.
The journalist carries an 80 per cent chance of being diagnosed herself and has regular mammograms and ultra sounds to monitor it.
Sky News host Kay Burley, 57, became emotional when she spoke about losing her loved ones to cancer. Pictured: Kay on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday
Kay is taking part in Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted, which is raising money for Stand Up To Cancer.
Speaking about losing her mother, Kay said: ‘My mum died when she was my age and my little boy was eight months old.
‘I remember her saying to me at the time, ”I’m going to die” and I said, ”I can’t live without you”. And she said, ‘You are going to have to darling and look after your daddy”.’
GMB brought up a picture of a 15-year-old Kay and her mother, which made her break down in tears.
Kay lost her mother Kath to breast cancer in 1993, after her grandmother died of the same condition when Kath was just 18. Pictured: 15-year-old Kay (left) with her mother Kath before she died
‘I never get upset on the telly,’ she said.
Kay then opened up about the loss of her grandmother, who died before she was born, and the deaths of three of her friends within months of each other.
She continued: ‘My grandmother had died when my mum was 18 and my aunt died shortly after my mother and I’ve had lots of breast cancer scares.
‘When they approached me, it was a no brainer. I lost three girlfriends six weeks before, including the amazing Tessa Jowell.’
Kay is taking part in Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted (pictured), which is raising money for Stand Up to Cancer. In the show she has to disappear without a trace while she is hunted by professionals who usually catch criminals
Kay, who has worked at Sky for 30 years, has a mammogram every six months and an ultra sound every six months.
Despite having an 80 per cent risk of getting cancer herself, Kay said things look more positive for cancer patients with the advance of modern medicine.
She added: ‘Thankfully it’s a disease that you tend to live with rather than die from. It’s not a death sentence like it was for my mother 25 years ago.’
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?
What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer develops from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.
When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding breast tissue it is called an ‘invasive’ breast cancer. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.
Most cases develop in women over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men though this is rare.
Staging means how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast growing. High grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.
What causes breast cancer?
A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply ‘out of control’.
Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance of developing breast cancer, such as genetics.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most breast lumps are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign.
The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
- Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
- Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under the microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.
If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest x-ray.
How is breast cancer treated?
Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.
- Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
- Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focussed on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops cancer cells from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
- Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying
- Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.
How successful is treatment?
The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.
The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 70 mean more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
For more information visit breastcancercare.org.uk or www.cancerhelp.org.uk
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