Julia Bradbury has shared how she used her breast cancer journey to help other people, after her battle with the disease “turned her life around”.
The Countryfile presenter has been spreading awareness through her work ever since her first mammogram failed due to her having dense breast tissue.
Speaking on how cancer has changed her outlook on life, Julia exclusively told Express.co.uk: “I’m thankful, I’m grateful because breast cancer in a strange way turned my life around.
“It’s given me a renewed focus on health, so I have to be grateful for it because I think that’s a more positive thing to do.
“And now I’ve got an opportunity to convert my lesson, to convert my experience into knowledge for people.”
Julia has used her experience of connecting with nature to release her latest book, Walk Yourself Happy, which aims to inspire others to discover health and healing in the outdoors.
She continued: “That’s why I’ve written this book, to share some free tools that you can all use. It’s not a guarantee, there are no guarantees, that you won’t get a chronic illness or breast cancer.
“But the tools in this in this book certainly will help you lead a healthier, happier life. There was a real stigma when it came to talking about breast cancer. You didn’t talk about breasts.
“You didn’t talk about breast cancer, I’ve spoken to people who said, ‘Yes, my mum had breast cancer, but we never spoke about it’.”
Julia recalled the first time she discovered a lump in her breast and sought medical attention only to be let down.
She shared: “Sadly, the screening system for me didn’t work. The mammogram system didn’t work because I’ve got dense breasts.
“It’s hard to see a tumour when you’ve got very dense tissue because it shows up as white on the mammogram, and tumours turn up as white on mammograms as well.
“It was described to me [as] like looking for a snowball in a snowstorm,” she finished.
The 52-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2021 and underwent a single mastectomy.
The presenter learned of her diagnosis a year after finding a lump that proved to be a cluster of benign micro-cysts.
Since then the star has completely overhauled her lifestyle and excluded toxins such as perfume and plastic from her household.
She divulged: “I don’t have fragrance. I don’t have perfume. You know I’ve gone clean with my laundry powder, but laundry powder with all those fragrances… air fresheners in cars, are full of toxins that you are sniffing up your nose breathing in. “
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