EastEnders star Samantha Womack has revealed she is cancer-free.
The actress, who played Ronnie Mitchell in the popular soap, shared her breast cancer diagnosis back in August as she paid tribute to the late Olivia Newton-John.
But in a new interview with OK! Magazine, the 50-year-old confirmed she is now free from cancer.
This was the most magical of evenings. Olivia and Chloe had come to see Grease in London and we had dinner together afterwards. I was so excited and in awe, she was my childhood. I now start my own battle with this disease and am left feeling deeply moved. #OliviaNewtonJohn pic.twitter.com/7vkgT5oCMf
— Sam Womack (@Sam_Womack) August 9, 2022
She said: “I just feel really thankful and really grateful that I caught it when I did. I feel very thankful for my life. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s almost like I can see the beauty in everything now – like everything feels special. I keep bursting into tears, because I’m happy.”
“I think it [going through cancer] shifts your perspective and suddenly everything feels really important and really vital and you suddenly just appreciate everything.”
Samantha recalled receiving her diagnosis after a “random check” at the doctors, when they discovered a shadow on her right breast.
The soap star said: “When we saw this shadow, you could just feel the energy in the room. Everything goes a bit silent. Once something like that happens you just kind of know.”
“This lovely man who was doing the ultrasound, said, ‘Look I really urge you to go to a breast clinic, show them these findings and you really need to do a mammogram and possibly a biopsy.’”
“I was working at the time and I had these checks booked between my matinee and evening show. I was reeling, having to go back and do a show in the evening. I was very spaced out I suppose. I couldn’t quite believe it.”
Samantha booked in for a private appointment at a breast clinic in London, and doctors there confirmed they’d found a 2cm tumour.
The actress continued: “From then you’re on this roller-coaster ride. All of a sudden there’s loads of specialists talking to you and being really sweet and comforting. But then you suddenly realise this is going to be a part of your life.”
“It slowly dawns on you that these things that I’ve heard other people talking about and scenes I’ve seen in dramas that I’ve acted in… I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m in my own drama now.’ It suddenly takes over everything.”
Thankfully after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, Samantha is now cancer-free.
She said of her diagnosis: “I feel profoundly changed by it and there is something incredibly moving about the pain and the fear we’ve been through. I love so much more.”
“I love my kids so much more, I love my boyfriend so much more, I love my life so much more. It’s like my life’s in vivid colour right now.”
