This Morning's Deidre Sanders facing horror breast cancer battle after missing mammogram

express.co.uk:

This Morning's Deidre Sanders had believed she didn't need a mammogram at age 77, and hadn't pursued an invitation from a GP that she'd missed out on "by error".Sadly, she then found herself plagued by achy breasts, before a visit to the doctor confirmed her worst fears - that she had "high grade" breast cancer.Deidre shared with the world that although her "teeny, tiny ­carcinoma" is carrying only malignant cells, it is nevertheless "high grade" and she must undergo an operation to remove it.Her battle, which was shared by celebrities such as the late Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding after she delayed seeking treatment, has been a traumatic one.The presenter had initially dismissed the aches and pains in her body as being nothing more than "tense shoulders".However when the pain began to spread into her right breast, she knew she had to take action."I must have let at least a month pass while I ­wondered, 'Is it anything to worry about?

Is it just muscular?'" she mused in the Sun."I am 77, after all - is it just the aches and pains of getting older?"Then, a week before she was due to go on holiday, she finally put in a call to her doctor's surgery.Her concerned GP placed her on the two-week NHS cancer pathway to get a confirmed diagnosis - and sure enough, poor Deidre learned that she had cancer.She is among several thousand who didn't receive the usual mammogram invitation that is issued to women when they reach the age of 70.A couple of years later, she was offered the service but dismissed the idea, believing that by 72, she was simply "too old" to need it.It was only when she received her diagnosis that she sadly realised she had been wrong.Fortunately, she is booked in for an op this Saturday to remove the cancerous.