Princess Beatrice, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and Princess Eugenie at a London event in 2017.Photo: David M Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
Sarah Fergusonis opening up about how her family rallied around after she wasdiagnosed with breast cancerover the summer.
“I am looking forward to working with the V Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee in selecting the recipient of the grant and continuing great work together. Just last week we raised over $500,000 for cancer research at their annual event in Napa,” the Duchess of York exclusively tells PEOPLE.
It hits close to home for Fergie, who had a successful single mastectomy over the summer after being diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine screening.
Sharing how her daughters,Princess BeatriceandPrincess Eugenie, have supported her since her diagnosis, she says, “My two wonderful daughters are my wholehearted cheerleaders, my devoted champions and my soulmates, and they have been as supportive as can be, as they always are.”
TheTea Talks with the Duchess and Sarahpodcast host added that she’s feeling the love from her grandchildren. The Duchess of York and her ex-husbandPrince Andreware grandparents to Eugenie andJack Brooksbank’s sons — August, 2, and Ernest, 5 months — and Beatrice andEdoardo Mapelli Mozzi’s 2-year-old daughter Sienna plus Edo’s young son Christopher Woolf, whom he shares with his ex-girlfriend Dara Huang
“My grandchildren have also been spectacular healers. Joy and laughter can be powerful tools when it comes to healing,” the Duchess tells PEOPLE.
Sienna Mapelli Mozzi and August Brooksbank; Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.Princess Eugenie/Instagram; David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty
Princess Eugenie/Instagram; David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty
Fergie has credited early detection as critical in her story and tells PEOPLE she is grateful to advocate today.
“Early detection is absolutely key and might have saved my life. It [is] easy to forget to prioritize our health and proactive care. Had my dear sister not urged me to keep the appointment I almost canceled, I might not have caught my cancer early enough to be able to treat it as effectively,” she says.
In late June, a representative for the Duchess of York told PEOPLE she was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer at a prescheduled mammogram and underwent surgery. Fergielater thankedher sister Jane for urging her to attend the appointment.
The Duchesskept fans updatedthrough the summer about her recovery and says that she is thrilled to feel well today.
“I am so very grateful to report I am feeling very well!” she tells PEOPLE. “I am hugely thankful to the brilliant doctors and nurses who took wonderful care of me as well as the staff involved in the mammogram that identified my illness, which was otherwise symptom-free.”
“Sarah, you were one of these women that nearly didn’t go for the screening appointment. It was just one of those things that you thought, ‘I’ll put it off,’ and it was a conversation with your sister that made you go?” co-host Christine Lampard asked.
“It was after a bank holiday and it was a Tuesday morning. And I thought ‘No, it’s a hot day,' and ‘Nah, no, I don’t need to go, I’m sure it’ll all be fine,” Fergie replied. “I had no symptoms. I was completely fine.”
Thanking her “bossy” older sister for insisting she make the trip, the author ofA Most Intriguing Ladysaid the cancer was caught “so early, just in time.”
“That’s why I really want to shout about this. Don’t skip your screening appointment because I wouldn’t be sitting here if I hadn’t have gone,” Fergie urged, as the audience applauded.
Voicing her gratitude to the Royal Free Hospital and the National Health Service, she also referred to an “extraordinary dye” that can detect shadows.
“It wasn’t a lump, I had a shadow, it was like a splat. Eighteen months before it wasn’t there. So, it had come on from the last mammogram to this mammogram,” she said.
“The drive from the Royal Free Hospital, I’ll never forget because of course your mind goes into, ‘Oh my goodness, I’ve got to have a mastectomy,’ and you look it up and it’s all terrifying and ‘This is what’s going to happen’ and then, ‘I’m not going to see my grandchildren grow up.’ That’s what goes through your head,” she continued. “It’s that feeling of demise… your mind goes.”
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Princess Beatrice, Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew and Princess Eugenie.Sarah Ferguson/Instagram
The Duchess of York added that the surgery was “very quick” after the diagnosis and that she was grateful to advocate today.
“If there’s one person that is going to have a fabulous life and see their grandchildren because of us speaking about it, then good for it!” she later said onLoose Women.
Like the United States, Breast Cancer Awareness Month is observed in the U.K. each October.
source: people.com
