IT would be understandable to lose faith after a horror 12 months that saw her both diagnosed with cancer and forced to come to terms with the tragic loss of her ‘beautiful’ mum.
But former Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian says she is “better than I would have imagined” after being declared cancer-free, even if her tumultuous recovery has left her still feeling “under construction”.
The 43-year-old stepped out at the Baftas last month[/caption]
The 43-year-old was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in June 2024, and underwent a mastectomy in January before getting the all clear two months later.
Now, the Strictly star – who has inspired fans with her candid and powerful updates about her treatment journey – has opened up about the next steps in her recovery and revealed she is still weighing up reconstruction surgery.
In a new interview with Giovanna Fletcher on the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, she explains how she is now turning her attention to removing a tumour the size of a “tennis ball” that developed after the birth of her daughter, Isla, five years ago.
And she reveals how she has found an unlikely pillar of support in the form of her former stepmother, who she had not seen in over 20 years.
Asked how she had handled the recovery, she said: “In some ways better than I would have imagined actually, even the sort of gearing up for a mastectomy.
“I’ve got a really good prosthetic that makes a big difference. It means in clothes I feel normal. It’s bright pink. It makes me happy.
“It’s just very different to the lump of silicone that you get handed in the hospital, which is a hell of a moment.
“This is a lot lighter and easy to wear. I quite like that it doesn’t look like a chicken fillet, like a pretend boob.
“It’s something that I could show the kids as well because it’s so visually appealing.
“It was one of those little bridging things. I just keep saying to myself really ‘I’m still under construction, I’ve been through a lot, I’m healing at the moment’.”
Ali Bastian as Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks[/caption]
She is also known for appearing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2009[/caption]
The former Hollyoaks star, pictured before her diagnosis, was declared cancer-free in March[/caption]
In one emotional video, Ali shaved her head while undergoing chemotherapy treatment[/caption]
Ali, who has two daughters Isla, five, and Isabella, two, with husband David O’Mahony, is best known for playing Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks, as well as appearing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2009.
She was diagnosed with cancer after discovering a lump she initially thought was a blocked milk duct while breastfeeding her youngest daughter.
But after undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, Ali says her successful recovery has now allowed her to focus on other health problems she was forced to put off.
She said: “I’ve got a big old hernia from my babies as well.
“Because of all of this I haven’t been able to have that done, and actually I’m more keen to get that done than anything else because that is harder to hide.
“It’s like a tennis ball. I’ve had it for five years, and it needs to go now.”
And speaking on the prospect of further surgery to reconstruct her breasts following the mastectomy, she said she will “explore” her options.
She said: “I couldn’t have a reconstruction at the time because we always knew I’d have to have radiotherapy. At some point there’ll be some kind of something.
“Initially I was like 100 per cent it’s happening. But now, I want to have the conversations and talk through what the options are, but I’m not actually married to any of them at the moment.”
Surprise reunion
Ali is now hoping to remove a tennis ball-sized tumour that developed after giving birth[/caption]
Ali said that her stepmum’s sister, who was an oncology nurse, has also provided support[/caption]
Ali with husband husband David O’Mahony[/caption]
Most incredibly of all, Ali’s health battle has also led to her reconnecting with her former stepmum, Sally, who she hadn’t seen in 20 years.
The pair reunited after Ali’s mum tragically passed in autumn 2023, just months before her cancer diagnosis.
In an emotional post last April, she told fans: “I wrote this on Mother’s Day but didn’t end up posting, but here goes…. TW grief. We lost our beautiful Mum in the autumn of ‘23, only a few months before my diagnosis.
“A sudden death after a short terrible illness. Impossible to make sense of.
“Grief, I attempted to put on hold whilst I managed a grueling treatment regime now comes in waves, sometimes crashing, sometimes tidal, rarely gentle… but I try to go gently with myself as I navigate life after cancer and life without you.”
The actress had moved with her husband and children from London to west Cork to slow down shortly before the tragic death.
It followed her suffering a suspected infection following the birth of her second child.
But her stepmum in London, who she had not seen for 20 years, got in touch and offered to come to Ireland to help Ali and her family – support she said was “incredibly healing”.
Speaking about the response to her revealing her diagnosis, she said: “The love and support and kindness was incredible. I never know what to respond to those moments.
“‘It means more than you know’ is what I find myself always saying, but I really, really mean that.
“I had this amazing thing happen for me in that my stepmum, who I hadn’t seen for 20 years, who’d parted company with my dad when I was about 20, when I lost my mum, she reached out to me.
“She was like ‘Hi, I’m here for you if you need me’. She knew I had a nine-month-old baby. So she just kept an eye on me.”
Ali added: “When I got my diagnosis she was like ‘I’m coming to Cork’.
“She spent a week with me and my family. Her sister was an oncology nurse so she had a sense of the treatment plan I was on, and what the months might look like.
“She said ‘Can I come back and I’ll nurse you through this bit?’ So she was with me for five weeks through the real tough chemo part. The way my treatment went towards the end, it’s quite cumulative.
“So she came and helped with the kids and helped me, and talked to me, and looked after me basically, and then came back again when I had my mastectomy and just held me.
“Literally sleeves up. It’s a really different energy when somebody’s like ‘I see you in that hole, I want to climb down with you and help you, and please let me do that’.
“That’s been incredibly healing, like amazing, amazing.”
‘Crazy little bubble’
Ali featured in the iconic Hollyoaks swimwear calendar[/caption]
Speaking after coming back to London and staying with her stepmum, Ali said: “When I come back to London now I stay with her and I have a home here to go to, because I hadn’t taken that on board with moving out to Ireland – that there’s nowhere to come back to.
“I have a place to go, a soft place to go, and that just means so much.
“The type of woman that she is, after she and my father parted ways she went on to become a social worker and become really experienced in that.
“She’s done incredible work in that field for years and years.
“So of all the people that I know that would be able to hold that space for me, my children, my husband, all of those dynamics, and you know the way a family undulates at the best of times, when there’s something going on there’s constant shifts in everyone’s ups and downs.
“We were kind of in this crazy little bubble going through this nightmare all together – she just had a way of being able to be there for us, and that not be complicated.
“She even gave me a mug of tea last night and I looked in the rim and it said ‘I told you to sit down’.”
