Jacquie Beltrao was diagnosed with cancer (Image: Instagram)
Sky News star Jacquie Beltrao has opened up about thinking that she was “going to d!e” amid a cancer battle. The 60-year-old presenter took to Instagram to share her part in a new campaign with Breast Cancer Now as she posted two snaps – one showing her undergoing treatment for the illness and another of her looking glam on a red carpet.
The Dublin-born Sky Sports presenter was diagnosed with breast cancer on Christmas Eve in 2014. After treatment, she received the all clear before receiving the devastating news seven years later that it had returned once more. Speaking about the intense treatment plan that she underwent, Jacquie captioned her Instagram post, sharing: “I’d been diagnosed with stage 4 incurable Breast Cancer 7 years after my primary diagnosis and a mastectomy. I cried my eyes out the first time (2014) when I was told chemo was a good idea, as a precaution, but with my second diagnosis I was begging for that chemo.”
She continued: “Whatever it took to have a shot at survival. I did 12 sessions fortnightly. It was supposed to be more but I was losing the feeling in my feet and scans showed it had stopped working anyway. In this picture I’m super tired with a mouth full of ulcers, a funny tummy and of course hair falling out daily.”
The TV star then added an emotional admission about her mortality, writing: “I was still working @skynews all through it convincing myself that everything was normal. Everything was NOT normal, I was terrified I was going to d!e. But you know you push on through – somehow – with your imaginary shields.”
She then spoke about her current health status and how she expects her future to be now, saying that in the recent picture she is: “Looking fine, hair OK (still a bit on the thin side) but 6 years on from a stage 4 diagnosis and (gratefully) 5 years clear of disease on my scans.”
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Jacquie added: “I take tablets that have really, really worked – @breastcancernow funded the research actually. I’ve been unbelievably lucky. But I still live scan to scan – always wondering when the tablets will stop working and how I will process that set back. Hopefully I won’t have to – who knows?
“I’m sometimes knackered, but I don’t know if that’s because I get up at 3.45 for my job or I take medication that says on the tin it will probably make you knackered.”
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Fellow sports presenter, Ali Bender, was one of the first to support Jacqui. She wrote: “This is a great idea. Inspiring to see people coming out the other side, though of course it’s always a part of your story and ongoing.”
While a fan wrote: “Thank you so much for sharing Jacquie xx,” and another added: “You are a true inspiration!”
