Victoria is passionate about raising awareness after her own diagnosis (Picture: ITV)
Former Coronation Street star Victoria Ekanoye has been speaking about fronting a new documentary that aims to highlight the challenges black women in the African community and diaspora face when they are diagnosed with cancer.
The actress, who played Angie Appleton in the show, was diagnosed with DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) in October 2021.
DCIS sees the cells within the milk ducts turn cancerous and previously, Victoria explained the lump on her breast was so big, she didn’t have to look for it.
After a third opinion from the doctors, Victoria was eventually given an official diagnosis.
Continuing to raise awareness after being given the all-clear, Victoria has been filming in Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, America and the UK for a documentary called The Naked Truth.
‘I’ve been as open as I possibly can be about my cancer journey in the hope that it will encourage others to advocate for themselves, as that’s one of the reasons why I’m here today to be able to do this’, she told Manchester Evening News, discussing her new project.
During her time speaking at conferences and working with charities, Victoria started to notice a difference in the mortality rate surrounding black women with breast cancer.
‘There’s a huge taboo in the African community and the diaspora when it comes to talking about cancer and it’s heartbreaking to know that some people are being diagnosed with stage three and four cancer’, she said.
‘Not because it was undetectable, but because they were too ashamed to talk about it with their friends or their family or to go to the doctor.’
Mum to Theo, Victoria is hopeful that by creating this documentary, she will help break the taboo and ‘amplify voices for those people that either don’t feel they can speak out or be heard for whatever reason’.
Mary’s son, Jude, was Angie’s partner (Picture: ITV)
She continued: ‘I was diagnosed at 39, which was in the same year as having my baby boy, and the impact on my family was just immense and that was even with so much support and medical care so I simply cannot imagine what it must be like facing the fact that you have to fight for your life without access to treatment and care and to be afraid to talk about it, or even to be ashamed that you have cancer.’
Victoria played the role of Angie in Corrie from 2017-2019.
She has also appeared in the celebrity version of The Chase and last year, she jetted off to the Caribbean to appear in BBC One’s Death in Paradise.
Victoria will front a documentary called The Naked Truth.