Amanda Holden has been praised for candidly documenting her experience getting a mammogram.
To mark Breast Cancer Awareness month, the 49-year-old shared a video of herself going through the process on Instagram – and encouraged her female followers to do the same.
In the video, Amanda said: “I always feel really nervous, before I go in, I think it’s a really human thing to feel. I’m going to take you right the way through the whole thing.”
“And I’m going to talk about it all the way through, and hopefully it will inspire you to go do the same thing.”
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“I think the thing to say here is to try not be intimidated, because this is a big machine, it’s a little bit buzzy, and you know stripping off and having to do something in front of a complete stranger can be a bit nerve-racking,” she continued.
“But in the end it’s for your own safety and your own good. So all I can say is, just do it, do it for your family, do it for yourself.”
Following the mammogram, Amanda said: “So I’ve just had it done, everyone’s boobs are different. So for me it didn’t feel to painful, it definitely felt very tight and it did feel a bit uncomfortable but I think for the seconds that it lasted it was totally worth doing.”
“So if you haven’t ever done it before I promise you, it’s over really quickly.”
Amanda captioned the post: “My boobs always seem to be in the headlines for silly reasons so I hope that changes today as I document my own mammogram with @thisisheart to highlight that 1 in 8 of us women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during our lifetime. Worryingly 50% of us fail to notice or know the early signs of the disease.”
“Regular mammograms, in addition to our own personal checks, offer the best results for early detection as they can highlight problems up to three years before anything can be felt through our own examination,” she continued.
“We’re all different shapes and sizes and experience things differently but for me the check-up was quick and easy and potentially saved my life.”
After she posted the video, Amanda was widely praised in the comment section.
One follower wrote, “Amanda, you are BRILLIANT,” and another commented: “This is great and so important! Well done for highlighting.”
