Post by Katrina on May 21, 2006 20:44:13 GMT 1
I found this on a website
WHEN THE DOCS SAID BREAST CANCER IT WAS A WAKE-UP CALL FOR ME - I'M ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES
Exclusive Ex-Bill star Natalie reveals how she was terrifed when she found a lump .. and why she wants every woman to make regular checks
ACTRESS Natalie Robb last night pleaded with women to be more breast aware as she talked for the first time of her own cancer scare.
Stunning Natalie told how she initially blamed pain in her left breast on too much exercise - until she found a lump.
The 31-year-old admitted she had never examined herself before, but now urges women to make regular checks.
Natalie said: "It was really painful and I thought it was muscular.
"But one day when I went to touch it, I felt a small lump at the side of my breast."
The ex-Bill star went to see her GP, who immediately referred her to a breast cancer unit.
It was particularly terrifying for Natalie because her 35-year-old cousin Michelle was suffering from breast cancer and was being treated at the same time.
Natalie said: "As soon as the GP said the words 'breast cancer unit', I was really scared. I phoned my friend in a panic.
"I was trying to stay calm, but I was really frightened."
Rather than wait for two weeks for a referral, she made a private appointment for the next day.
"I just needed peace of mind quickly," she said.
Fortunately the doctor was able to tell her the lump was a harmless cyst, but she was warned to always be on the look-out for more lumps.
She said: "To be honest, I had never checked myself before. I would encourage women to do it now.
"It was a big wake-up call for me. It's a horrible thing for any woman to go through, but I was one of the lucky ones."
It was not so straightforward for her cousin Michelle, who has had to have a small part of her breast removed and undergo a course of chemotherapy.
Natalie said:"Thankfully, they caught it early and the doctors are now confident she is clear.
"That's why self-examination is so important because catching it early makes such a difference."
A year later, Natalie is now as fit as ever and in three weeks will appear in an episode of TV drama New Tricks with Dennis Waterman and Amanda Redman.
She met her new boyfriend, Fletcher Rodley, on the New Tricks set in January, and they are now busy setting up their own production company.
Fletcher, an assistant director, worked on Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and The Hole with Keira Knightley. Natalie said: "It's great because he is in the business and understands my work. But we'll just see where it goes."
She split up last year from Argentinian Rodrigo Ariel-Longo, who she met while she was visiting her mother Julliette who lives in Spain.
Natalie said: "The problem with Rodrigo was the distance.
"I think we were being over ambitious. It was nice at the time but not right and you just have to move on."
After a successful career which began as a child in Take The High Road and brought her parts in Doctors and Holby City, Natalie still loves acting but is keen to branch out.
SHE is renovating a house in Spain with Julliette and her production company plans to make a film of her mum's life story.
Natalie said: "My mum and I are very close. We're good friends.
"She is like a ray of light. She is a warm wonderful woman and has been through a lot. There has been a lot of pain in her life."
Much of that pain was caused by the break-up of her 25-year marriage to Natalie's father, John.
In the end, it was a 13-year-old Natalie who asked her mum to leave home.
Natalie grew up with her older brother and sister in a lovely old house surrounded by three acres of land in Balmore village, near Torrance, Dunbartonshire.
Her father was a publican and taxi driver and the long hours put a strain on the marriage. Eventually the couple's relationship crumbled.
Natalie said: "It wasn't a good environment to be in.
"My mum was constantly crying and when you come home from school and see your mum upset all the time, it's just too much.
"I remember telling my mum to leave and her looking at me in shock.
"The only reason she was sticking with it was to keep the family together, but I am not in favour of that."
They eventually moved to Kirkintilloch on the outskirts of Glasgow and Natalie grew ever closer to her mum.
Natalie said: "I understand her because I was with her through such a tough time."
In 1984, Julliette broke her back in a show-jumping accident.
While taking part in a cross- country event, she came off her horse and smashed five vertebrae in her lower back, narrowly missing her spinal column.
To this day, she is still plagued by pain.
"I was only 10 and I remember that my head was the same height as mum's bed.
"She was lying there unable to move for months.
"Willpower made her better in the end. She said the one thing that kept her going was that she didn't want her children to ever have to take her to the toilet."
Julliette moved to Spain for the small comfort the heat gives her aching back.
Natalie said: "There were times my mum used to crawl around on her hands and knees. She is still in constant pain."
Julliette has never remarried and Natalie is not in contact with her dad, who is still a taxi driver in Glasgow.
"I tried to have a relationship with him in my twenties," said Natalie.
"But there is only so much you can do if the other person doesn't make the effort.
"I had to make a decision in my head to move on, otherwise I would have stayed stuck in certain aspects of my own life.
"It was affecting my relationships.
"I still think girls need their fathers. J My mother was a rock for me and always will be, but I also needed that masculine voice as well.
"But it is just the way it is and I can I live with it."
Despite never seeing her father, Natalie is more contented than she has ever been.
"I am much happier with who I am in my thirties," she said.
"I am broadening my horizons and I am excited about it.
"I love my life and I'm looking forward to great things happening in the future."
Exclusive Ex-Bill star Natalie reveals how she was terrifed when she found a lump .. and why she wants every woman to make regular checks
ACTRESS Natalie Robb last night pleaded with women to be more breast aware as she talked for the first time of her own cancer scare.
Stunning Natalie told how she initially blamed pain in her left breast on too much exercise - until she found a lump.
The 31-year-old admitted she had never examined herself before, but now urges women to make regular checks.
Natalie said: "It was really painful and I thought it was muscular.
"But one day when I went to touch it, I felt a small lump at the side of my breast."
The ex-Bill star went to see her GP, who immediately referred her to a breast cancer unit.
It was particularly terrifying for Natalie because her 35-year-old cousin Michelle was suffering from breast cancer and was being treated at the same time.
Natalie said: "As soon as the GP said the words 'breast cancer unit', I was really scared. I phoned my friend in a panic.
"I was trying to stay calm, but I was really frightened."
Rather than wait for two weeks for a referral, she made a private appointment for the next day.
"I just needed peace of mind quickly," she said.
Fortunately the doctor was able to tell her the lump was a harmless cyst, but she was warned to always be on the look-out for more lumps.
She said: "To be honest, I had never checked myself before. I would encourage women to do it now.
"It was a big wake-up call for me. It's a horrible thing for any woman to go through, but I was one of the lucky ones."
It was not so straightforward for her cousin Michelle, who has had to have a small part of her breast removed and undergo a course of chemotherapy.
Natalie said:"Thankfully, they caught it early and the doctors are now confident she is clear.
"That's why self-examination is so important because catching it early makes such a difference."
A year later, Natalie is now as fit as ever and in three weeks will appear in an episode of TV drama New Tricks with Dennis Waterman and Amanda Redman.
She met her new boyfriend, Fletcher Rodley, on the New Tricks set in January, and they are now busy setting up their own production company.
Fletcher, an assistant director, worked on Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and The Hole with Keira Knightley. Natalie said: "It's great because he is in the business and understands my work. But we'll just see where it goes."
She split up last year from Argentinian Rodrigo Ariel-Longo, who she met while she was visiting her mother Julliette who lives in Spain.
Natalie said: "The problem with Rodrigo was the distance.
"I think we were being over ambitious. It was nice at the time but not right and you just have to move on."
After a successful career which began as a child in Take The High Road and brought her parts in Doctors and Holby City, Natalie still loves acting but is keen to branch out.
SHE is renovating a house in Spain with Julliette and her production company plans to make a film of her mum's life story.
Natalie said: "My mum and I are very close. We're good friends.
"She is like a ray of light. She is a warm wonderful woman and has been through a lot. There has been a lot of pain in her life."
Much of that pain was caused by the break-up of her 25-year marriage to Natalie's father, John.
In the end, it was a 13-year-old Natalie who asked her mum to leave home.
Natalie grew up with her older brother and sister in a lovely old house surrounded by three acres of land in Balmore village, near Torrance, Dunbartonshire.
Her father was a publican and taxi driver and the long hours put a strain on the marriage. Eventually the couple's relationship crumbled.
Natalie said: "It wasn't a good environment to be in.
"My mum was constantly crying and when you come home from school and see your mum upset all the time, it's just too much.
"I remember telling my mum to leave and her looking at me in shock.
"The only reason she was sticking with it was to keep the family together, but I am not in favour of that."
They eventually moved to Kirkintilloch on the outskirts of Glasgow and Natalie grew ever closer to her mum.
Natalie said: "I understand her because I was with her through such a tough time."
In 1984, Julliette broke her back in a show-jumping accident.
While taking part in a cross- country event, she came off her horse and smashed five vertebrae in her lower back, narrowly missing her spinal column.
To this day, she is still plagued by pain.
"I was only 10 and I remember that my head was the same height as mum's bed.
"She was lying there unable to move for months.
"Willpower made her better in the end. She said the one thing that kept her going was that she didn't want her children to ever have to take her to the toilet."
Julliette moved to Spain for the small comfort the heat gives her aching back.
Natalie said: "There were times my mum used to crawl around on her hands and knees. She is still in constant pain."
Julliette has never remarried and Natalie is not in contact with her dad, who is still a taxi driver in Glasgow.
"I tried to have a relationship with him in my twenties," said Natalie.
"But there is only so much you can do if the other person doesn't make the effort.
"I had to make a decision in my head to move on, otherwise I would have stayed stuck in certain aspects of my own life.
"It was affecting my relationships.
"I still think girls need their fathers. J My mother was a rock for me and always will be, but I also needed that masculine voice as well.
"But it is just the way it is and I can I live with it."
Despite never seeing her father, Natalie is more contented than she has ever been.
"I am much happier with who I am in my thirties," she said.
"I am broadening my horizons and I am excited about it.
"I love my life and I'm looking forward to great things happening in the future."
