Countryfile’s Julia Bradbury reveals she’s had her mastectomy with candid photo from her hospital bed in cancer battle
COUNTRYFILE'S Julia Bradbury has had her mastectomy after revealing her breast cancer battle last month.
The presenter, 51, shared a candid photo from her hospital bed on Instagram earlier today.
Julia, who co-presented the BBC One programme from 2004 to 2014, found a lump in her breast last year, which proved to be a cluster of benign micro-cysts.
The mother-of-three revealed that she was going to have her left breast removed, along with the six centimetre tumour.
This afternoon she updated fans with how she was feeling after the surgery.
She told her 133k followers: "I need a drain to channel surplus blood from the surgery & I have to wear a special post- breast surgery/mastectomy designed bra for the next 6 weeks to protect my upper body post-op. (This one is by @theyahealthcare - made of bamboo fibres). *
"The marks on my chest are markers for my surgeon to follow during the op."
Julia went on to explain that she's "joined a sadly ever growing club" of patients who have had a mastectomy performed by the NHS.
She added that around 18,000 are performed each year and it's gone up 50 per cent in the last year.
Julia continued: "I feel relief that the operation is over. The anxiety leading up to it was overwhelming.
Davina McCall added: "🙌🏻 sending u so much love ❤️."
Angelica Bell commented: "Sending love always ❤️."
It comes after she stripped topless to "say goodbye to her boobs"; ahead of her mastectomy.
Just last month Julia revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and would undergo a mastectomy.
She bravely opened up about the battle ahead in an interview, admitting: "It changes your world forever in an instant.
"There is no preparing you for those words. You hear 'cancer' and your brain starts to explode."
Last year Julia had found a lump in her breast, which proved to be a cluster of benign micro-cysts.
She had another mammogram this year and it hadn't returned anything almaring, so she almost didn't go to her follow up appointment in September.
However, her sister encouraged her to keep the appointment, and so she did, only for her doctor to find a small shadow on her breast.
It was the first of many biopsies under her private health care, and decided she wanted to get news of her results in her own home with her partner Gerard by her side.
The Countryfile star said: "I am glad I scheduled it for home, because he spoke the words no one wants to hear, ever. 'High grade. Sizeable tumour. Six centimetres [just over 2in]. Could be trouble to treat in terms of the area.' "
Julia, who has children Zeph, 10, and twins Zena and Xanthe, six, said: "I have to hope I have caught mine early enough.
"A mastectomy is a shattering thing to go through but it means that I am going to live and be here for my children."
She continued: "Cancer has so many points, the diagnosis seems like everything, but it isn't.
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"It puts you on a pathway and you have to navigate that while holding back your emotions so you are not overwhelmed all the time.
"Right now I'm simply focused on having surgery because I don't know how I am going to be, if I will have more cancer to deal with, how I will cope with recovery, how life will feel afterwards."
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