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Susanna Reid has revealed she had a ‘slightly stressful’ experience attending her mammogram appointment.
The 52-year-old updated Good Morning Britain viewers and co-host Ed Balls after saying Sarah Ferguson’s breast cancer diagnosis was a ‘wake-up call’ for her to book an appointment earlier this year.
In June, she detailed overcoming several practical ‘hurdles’ to book her appointment, after finally ‘getting around to it’.
And she’s since shared an update about the experience.
Susanna began on Tuesday’s GMB: ‘I was really resistant to it, and then there was a big row about the fact that some health authorities weren’t sending out regular reminders.
‘I remembered that there had been a letter somewhere in the in-tray, so I did it.’
‘It was slightly stressful,’ she went on to explain.
Susanna Reid detailed her mammogram experience on Tuesday’s GMB (Picture: ITV)
‘Because our lovely editor Daniel drove me there, and then I left my mobile phone in the car, and then I felt stressed because I didn’t have my mobile phone, and then I had to go up to someone else in the waiting room to ask them if I could possibly send an email from their mobile phone to the programme secretary to see if she could then contact… this is going on for far too long.’
Cutting her ‘stressful’ story short, Susanna added: ‘Anyway, the point was I was completely distracted.’
She went on: ‘I went in, and the nurse was absolutely lovely, and it wasn’t in the least bit painful or uncomfortable.
‘I was expecting it to be far, far worse.’
‘So if you have been putting it off for that reason, please don’t. Go and get your mammogram done,’ she urged.
‘I was expecting it to be far, far worse.’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Thankfully, Susanna’s results came within a few weeks and she’s in the ‘all clear’.
‘So don’t have to worry about that for another few years.’
This comes after Susanna revealed earlier this year that she had not yet booked an appointment, until the Duchess of York’s diagnosis became a ‘wake up call’.
Susanna had said: ‘This morning we want to send our best wishes to the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, because she has revealed – this has come as quite a shock – that she’s undergone surgery because of breast cancer.’
‘It was a routine mammogram on a Tuesday two weeks ago, she said on her podcast. She’s now out of surgery, but that’s remarkably fast, isn’t it? Two weeks ago she had the mammogram, she said she was reluctant to go, it’s been very hot weather, it was a bit of an inconvenience, her sister said, “You have to go.”
The Duchess of York’s diagnosis was a ‘wake up call’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
‘I think the reason that she’s open about this is she wants this to be a wake-up call to people.’
She continued: ‘I hadn’t realised, that there was a change in policy and screening, around seven months ago, back in September, where appointments used to be sent out for mammograms, now it’s an invitation, apparently, to make an appointment.
‘As a result, around, just in London, 12,000 women are estimated to have missed out on breast screenings because of that new open invitations system.
A Million Missed Mammograms
After being diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine mammogram in November, Dawn Butler MP was grateful to find out it was caught early.
However, she learned that a million women missed out on their mammograms due to the pandemic, with an estimated 10,000 currently living with undetected breast cancer.
Determined to change that, Dawn has launched a campaign with Metro.co.uk to get a million women to book their missed screenings.
If you have been inspired to do so after hearing Dawn’s story, please let her know on her website, emailing us or using #FindTheMillion on social media.
‘Now, I received one of those letters, an invitation to go. And, of course, what have I done? Absolutely nothing. I haven’t booked in a mammogram. And I’m 52.’
‘I absolutely should take that up,’ she declared, with co-host Ed agreeing: ‘You should go.’
‘I think there will be a lot of women this morning, finding out what has happened to Sarah Ferguson, feeling the same way I did – there isn’t really a firm appointment, I haven’t got time to make one, who will be thinking differently.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
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‘I was completely distracted.’