Prof Hannah Fry has described feeling “unbelievably lucky” after being treated for cervical cancer.
The mathematician and BBC presenter, who recently took part in the second season of the Celebrity Traitors, said cancerous cells were discovered after she attended a cervical screening in 2020.
She underwent a hysterectomy, describing the experience to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs as “horrific”.
“As awful as that was, it had a full stop at the end of the sentence,” the 42-year-old added. “I had my five-year clear the other day. I feel so unbelievably lucky.”
In Sunday’s episode, Fry told show host Lauren Laverne that she had delayed a cervical screening examination for months in 2020. After she attended one, the results “didn’t come back for a few weeks,” she said.
“Then 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.”
The broadcaster said she was told that her chances of survival depended on the cancerous cells not having spread to her lymph nodes, although it was not clear “how bad it was at that point”.
“It’s all about, basically, how far into your lymphatic system has it got. If it had not got into any lymph nodes, then the odds were in my favour and I had a really good chance of survival,” she said.
Fry explained that this meant “if it was in one it would drop to a 60% chance of survival and two – the odds would go against me and it would be a 40% chance”.
