Daily Express Thursday, August 8, 2019 7DX1STis cancer ‘game-changer’
BBC Jane
says: I’ve
had breast
removal op
BBC newsreader Jane
Hill, who revealed her
battle with breast cancer
via social media three
months ago, yesterday
confirmed that she has
had a mastectomy.
The 50-year-old, who
had not appeared on TV
screens for six months
before her revelation in
May, gave more details of
her condition and told
why she had kept her
diagnosis a secret so long.
Appearing on ITV’s
Lorraine, she told
stand-in host Christine
Lampard: “I left work at
the end of November.
“You just don’t know
how it’s going to go. You
hope the operation is
going to go well.“My surgeon was
amazing. On the day of
my diagnosis what she
made me do was walk
away thinking about all
the positives in my case.
“I was super-lucky. I
didn’t want to start
talking about it on social
media in case there was a
hiccup.
“It wasn’t right for me
to do updates.”
Ms Hill added: “I had a
mastectomy in
November. I decided
against reconstruction
surgery. I do have a
massive great scar across
my chest.’
She also credited her
healthy lifestyle – which
included going to the
gym and “eating broccoli
for 25 years” – with
helping her recovery.
Ms Hill also revealed
that her partner Sarah
Shepherd’s mother had
been diagnosed with
cancer in the same month
as she was.
She added: “There was
a lot of dark humour in
our house.
“Her mum, touch
wood, is doing well.”Tumour fight... Jane HillHiccup
By Tom Bryant
and Jane OddyTV’s Amanda: My
stress was so bad I
collapsed at studio
CASUALTY star Amanda
Mealing has revealed her
post-traumatic stress was
once so bad she collapsed
at the show’s studios.
The 52-year-old was
diagnosed with PTSD five
years after her 2002 breast
cancer battle.
Amanda said she
“literally crumbled down on
my haunches at the steps
at Elstree” while filming for
Holby City. She added:
“There were only five steps
going up to reception and I
couldn’t make it up.”After her cancer
diagnosis, Amanda went
on to have a mastectomy,
chemotherapy and
radiotherapy.
She rushed back to work
18 months later and “didn’t
deal with the psychological
aspect of it”.
Amanda said: “At the
time I couldn’t because I’d
just had, what I call, my
hand-to-hand combat of
fighting the cancer, so I
didn’t have time to look at
my emotional state.
“My husband said, ‘This
is going to come back and
bite us years down theline.’ And it did.”She said
therapy helped her to cope
with the PTSD and process
what she had gone
through.
“It really does work... I
did it for about a year,” she
said. “I think if you have
been through trauma it is
absolutely essential.
“I was diagnosed [with
cancer] 24 hours after my
second son was born.
“My whole world was
turned upside down.”
Amanda’s experience
echoes her character’s –
consultant Connie
Beauchamp – who has
battled PTSD after a brutal
assault.
Viewers will see her hit
crisis point in Saturday’s
double episode.
Amanda, who is taking a
break from the show, said:
“I am able to use my
first-hand experience to
portray this with Connie.
“Anything that has not
been so great in my life, I
have always used it – and
hopefully used it to help
other people as well.
● Casualty is on Saturday,
8.40pm on BBC One.Cope
How healthy heart keeps dementia at bay
and cholesterol, reducing blood
sugar and getting physically active.
Known as Life’s Simple 7, it also
advises a healthy diet, losing excess
weight and giving up smoking.
Sticking to it has already been
shown to make premature deaths 50
per cent less likely.
The list was originally compiled
by the American Heart Association
to ward off heart disease, but then
found to help prevent cancer.
Now a study of Whitehall civil
servants has discovered it also
slashes the risk of dementia.
Patients are scored on each ele-
ment with two points awarded for
ideal, one for intermediate and zero
for poor. The maximum is 14 and
the higher the better.
Lead author Dr Severine Sabia, an
epidemiologist at University College
London, said: “Our findings suggest
that the Life’s Simple 7, which com-
prises the cardiovascular health
score, at age 50 may shape the riskof dementia. This study supports
public health policies to improve
cardiovascular health as early as age
50 to promote cognitive health.”
Her team tracked 7,899 men and
women, analysing the link between
their Life’s Simple 7 score at 50 and
their risk of dementia over an aver-
age follow-up period of 25 years.
The devastating neurological con-
dition can start to develop two dec-ades before any symptoms appear.
With no cure in sight there is an
increasing focus on prevention, and
the heart health predictors have
been put forward as a potential tool.
The score is the sum of four
behavioural (smoking, diet, physical
activity, body mass index) and three
biological (fasting glucose, blood
cholesterol, blood pressure) metrics.
Poor cardiovascular fitness is cate-gorised as 0-6, intermediate 7-
and optimal 12-14.
Among the participants, who
were all healthy at the outset, 347
cases of dementia were identified up
until 2017 from hospital, mental
health service and death registers.
Average age at diagnosis was 75.
Adherence to the Life’s Simple 7
recommendations in middle age was
associated with a lower risk of
dementia later in life.
This was even after taking into
account socio-demographic factors,
said Dr Sabia, whose findings are
published in The BMJ.
Among those with poor cardio-
vascular scores the incidence rate
was 3.2 per 1,000 person years com-
pared to 1.3 for those with optimal
ones – a drop of 59.4 per cent.
Intermediate scorers had a
dementia incidence of 1.8 per 1,
person years, 44 per cent less than
those with the worst heart health.
In the UK dementia affects
around 850,000 people, a figure set
to rise to two million by 2050.SEVEN SIMPLE STEPS TO SLASH YOUR RISK
FROM PAGE ONE● Control your blood pressure to
reduce the strain on your heart,
arteries and kidneys to help keep
you healthier longer.
● Cut cholesterol levels as it
contributes to plaque that can
clog arteries and lead to heart
disease and strokes.
● Reduce blood sugar. High
levels can damage your heart,
kidneys, eyes and nerves.
● Get active – daily physical
activity increases your length
and quality of life.● Eat better – a heart-healthy
diet is one of your best weapons
for fighting cardiovascular
disease and improves chances
of staying healthy for life.
● Lose weight – shedding extra
fat and unnecessary pounds
reduces the burden on your
heart, lungs, blood vessels and
skeleton. You will also lower
your blood pressure.
● Quit smoking – smokers have a
higher risk of developing
cardiovascular disease.Pictures: GETTY / REX / PA