Mathematician and author, Hannah Fry, who has two young daughters, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2020 after delaying her cervical screening during the pandemic
Celebrity Traitors star, Hannah Fry, has bravely revealed she had a hysterectomy after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.
The mathematician and author, 42, who now has lots of new fans following her star turn on the BBC detective show, was told she had cancer in 2020 after delaying her cervical screening during the pandemic.
Describing her hysterectomy as “horrific”, Hannah shared details of her experience on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs today. Explaining she had recently been given her “five-year clear”, she told host Lauren Laverne: “I feel so unbelievably lucky”.
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Hannah, who has two young daughters, said her GP told her she needed to do another test after her screening, explaining: “I got a call from my GP telling me they needed me to come back and do another test, and they did a biopsy. I was trying hard not to panic, but when they found it was in the lymphatic system… that was when it really started to come down.”
Adding that her chance of survival depended on how far the cancer cells had travelled through her lymphatic system, she said: “If it was in one, it would drop to a 60 per cent chance of survival and two – the odds would go against me, and it would be a 40 per cent chance.”
Hannah had her hysterectomy while isolated in the hospital during lockdown only to be told that four of her lymph nodes appeared enlarged.
She told Lauren: “I was in this hospital bed on my own, and no-one could come and visit me for over a week, with nothing but the sheer terrifying drop of the end of my existence in front of me – it was horrific.”
The maths whizz, who was married to husband Phil Lythell at the time before their divorce in 2022, said that she asked him to set up FaceTime in the corner of the room so she could see their two daughters playing. “I didn’t want them to see me; it was too much,” she said.
Stoically reflecting on her ordeal, Hannah, who is now five years clear of cancer, concluded: “Going through something like that, I don’t think I would swap it. I think it was honestly such a gift to have that experience when you’re 36 and then come out the other side of it.”
The Cambridge professor was a huge hit on the recent series of Celebrity Traitors as she battled it out to bag a big lump sum for charity in the second celeb offering of the BBC show.
She even found out she was related to one of her co-stars, explaining when she left Ardross Castle: “I really like Joanne. We actually discovered that we’re cousins, by marriage. So her cousin is married to my cousin.”
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of her leaving the Scottish Highlands, she also said she found the whole experience a rollercoaster of emotions. Hannah shared: “I laughed more, cried more and got more excited than I ever have in the entirety of the rest of my life combined.”
* The Macmillan Support Line offers confidential support to people living with cancer and their loved ones. If you need to talk, call them on 0808 808 0000.
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