Sam Womack 'thankful for life' as she reveals she's now cancer free
The actress announced she had breast cancer in August
Five months after revealing she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer, former EastEnders actress Samantha Womack has announced the brilliant news that she's now cancer free, after undergoing extensive treatment.
Sam, who recently celebrated her 50th birthday, spoke to OK! Magazine about her good news, saying: “I just feel really thankful and really grateful that I caught it when I did.
"I feel very thankful for my life. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s almost like I can see the beauty in everything now – like everything feels special. I keep bursting into tears, because I’m happy.
“I think it going through cancer shifts your perspective and suddenly everything feels really important and really vital and you suddenly just appreciate everything.”
Sam first announced she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer back in August, whilst paying tribute to Grease actress Dame Olivia Newton-John, who sadly passed away at the age of 73.
As well as tributes from the likes of John Travolta and Sir Elton John, former EastEnders actress Sam paid her respects, whilst revealing she's also battling cancer herself.
Sharing a photo alongside Olivia and her daughter Chloe from 1993, when Sam appeared in the West End production of Grease playing the role of Sandy, she wrote: 'This was the most magical of evenings. Olivia and Chloe had come to see Grease in London and we had dinner together afterwards. I was so excited and in awe, she was my childhood. I now start my own battle with this disease and am left feeling deeply moved. #OliviaNewtonJohn'. (sic)
Sam, who portrayed the famous role of Ronnie Mitchell for 10 years in BBC soap EastEnders, didn't suffer from any symptoms, and only discovered the diagnosis through a random check up which resulted in doctors finding a shadow on her right breast.
After under going further tests, doctors found a 2cm tumour, revealing Sam had stage one to two breast cancer, which had also spread to her sentinel lymph node.
Speaking to OK! Magazine about her operation, Sam added: "When you have the diagnosis and you know it’s in you, but you’re waiting for surgery, it’s like you have this awful feeling of this ticking time bomb in your body and all you want is to get it out.
“You’re grateful for the surgery. I remember going under general anaesthetic and everyone was like, ‘Are you nervous?’ And I was like, ‘No, I’m excited. I want it out, I don’t want it in me any more.’ And that relief of coming to and knowing they’d got a good margin around it. I just felt so relieved, the knowledge that temporarily or long-term, it’s gone, it’s out, it’s been taken away. That felt really good.”
Sam appeared on ITV's This Morning back in November for her first TV interview since her diagnosis, where she told hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield she was determined to beat cancer and return to her job in the West End.
The actress is now back on stage as the White Witch in the West End production of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe at London’s Gillian Lynne Theatre.