Victoria Ekanoye has bravely opened up about her fight against cancer in a bid to raise awareness. The former Coronation Street star, known for her role as Angie Appleton, discovered a lump in her breast not long after welcoming her son, Theo, in 2021.
Despite a history of cancer in her family, initial medical checks reassured her that all was well. However, Victoria’s intuition told her otherwise, leading to the discovery of a second lump.
“It was definitely a period of time where a million other things were going on in my mind,” the 43-year-old told the Mirror in an exclusive interview. “I didn’t even I didn’t want to think about it being breast cancer.
“I remember being on set for Death in Paradise and I was just adjusting my microphone, because they put it on different parts of your clothing to kind of obscure it, and I was just adjusting my mic, and I felt a second lump in the same breast.
“I was obviously scared but also really angry at that moment because I just thought, ‘Well, what position am I in now? Do I go back, or is it just more of what they think?’
“Because they thought it was maybe mastitis and calcification due to blocked milk ducts and things like that. So, I just had to kind of take myself off into room and just have a chat with myself or a pep talk and be like, ‘Look, there’s nothing you can do about it right now.
“You’re here to do a job. You’re here with your mum and your son, you just need to protect them. Get the job done, then get home and do something about it.”
For a third opinion, Victoria sought a more detailed physical examination involving an ultrasound, mammogram and biopsy of both lumps with a doctor she described as the ‘best GP she’s ever had’. These further inspections detected a third lump in her armpit and medics weren’t pleased with what they saw.
“So, she said, ‘I’m not happy with with what I’m seeing. So, I really think at this point please come back in a week and bring somebody with you’. Now, like I said our family for whatever reason, has been plagued by cancer. And so, I know I’ve heard that sentence many times before ‘to bring somebody with you’.”
As advised, Victoria returned the following week accompanied by her husband Jonathan. At that time, he remained optimistic, attributing the lumps to breastfeeding, given their son was only nine months old.
Victoria continued: “I guess, you know, part of what I do for a living is we have to look at people’s micro expressions and body language, and pick up these things, as an actress. And as soon as [the doctor] walked through the door, I knew what she was going to say and I was holding Johnny’s hand.
“She came in, she kind of spoke about a few things. She was not avoiding it – because she she knew she had to [say something] – but I guess she was trying to softly bring her presence into the room… And [she was] like, ‘Okay, look, I’m not gonna beat around the bush, we have found cancerous cells’.
“And I just felt him stiffen next to me and I felt awful because, even though it’s not your fault, and you don’t bring it upon yourself, you feel guilt that you are bringing all this stress and worry and pain to everybody in your life that you love and care about.”
Victoria’s terrifying experience comes amidst 56,822 new cases of breast cancer every year, according to Cancer Research statistics. Currently, it is one of the most prevalent forms of cancer in the UK, accounting for 30% of all new female cases.
Following her diagnosis, Victoria opted for a double mastectomy – a surgical procedure that removes both breasts. However, getting there wasn’t straight-forward, as she needed a full body blood transfusion beforehand.
Victoria also grapples with sickle cell disease, a lifelong inherited condition that can seriously impact red blood cells and may lead to severe health issues like strokes and organ damage in rare cases.
“I was diagnosed in October, and I had my surgery in December,” the star, from Bury, Greater Manchester, continued. “By that point it had become invasive and it had gotten to my lymph nodes, so had I not gone [to the doctors] … I would have been past the point of it becoming invasive, and it would have been in and around my body, probably setting up camp somewhere else.”
Fast forward to February last year and Victoria was ecstatic to announce that she was finally cancer-free. As a patron of Prevent Breast Cancer, she’s eager to keep raising awareness of the disease and is now urging people to do one thing.
“We make appointments all of the time. We make dinner dates, catch up with friends. But the most important date I think you can put in your calendar when it comes to your health, is just once a month doing a full body check for yourself.
“Is anything different? Does anything not feel right? And if there is something, then just go get it checked out. That’s what the doctors are there for we’re not bothering them. We’re not wasting their time.”
In light of her personal journey, Victoria is in the process of finalising a documentary on breast cancer, which delves into global disparities in healthcare. She has been filming in various locations including Nigeria, South Africa, the US, and the UK, and aims to put a spotlight on the experiences of Black women and institutionalised racism.
“So it’s called Shades of Survival,” she said. “It’s for everyone, really. It’s about breast cancer, it’s about the disparities in healthcare. It’s about the health inequity, it’s about resilience, hope, shame sometimes.
“In certain communities there is a lot of shame when it comes to breast cancer because of the connotations of being ‘less of a woman’ which is devastating anyway for the woman. Never mind having to worry about what the community thinks.”
Reflecting on her experience, she added: “I think the need to protect people makes you a little bit stoic in the moment, but in all honesty, I would have been completely broken if I didn’t have the support network that I have, and had at the time. My partner, Jonathan, has been an absolute rock.”