Julia Bradbury was overcome with emotion as she recounted her harrowing journey through breast cancer. The Countryfile legend, who is in remission, was forced to have a masectomy and has been open about her battle to help raise awareness for others.
And certain parts of her story can still bring her to tears. On Davina McCall's 'Begin Again' podcast, Julia opened up about the heart-stopping moment her doctor confirmed her worst fears with a definitive cancer diagnosis. Choking back tears, she confessed: "And I've never cried at this bit of the story before, but it's the moment you feel most vulnerable, and it's also the moment that you do nothing."
Julia, who had been accustomed to a whirlwind lifestyle presenting travel documentaries in places like Iceland, Germany, and South Africa during the 2010 World Cup, found her life abruptly halted by the illness.
She vividly remembered the immediate aftermath of her diagnosis, when she phoned her partner Gerald to break the devastating news: "I told him, and we cried. And I said, I'll do whatever I have to do to get through this. I will do whatever it is."
Determined to fight, she declared her readiness to face any challenge that lay ahead. "If I have to lose a breast, I'll have to lose my hair. If I have to go, whatever it is I need to do," she said. "I'm going to do what I need to do to get through this."
Julia said that fighting cancer is not a one-size-fits-all battle, noting: "Every type of cancer is different. Every type of breast cancer is different.
"You'll have a friend who's gone through breast cancer, and she and I will sit down and have a story, and we'll have had a different tumour in a different place, and it will behave differently."
"It's very complicated. And that's the reason why the war on cancer hasn't been won yet."
She also believes that living a healthy lifestyle is key in combating cancer. She added: "I don't believe there is one thing that will cure anybody's cancer. I don't think it's one drug. I don't think it's one treatment. I don't think it's just one approach.
"I believe the cancer has to be treated holistically, that it is to do with so many factors and if you're not metabolically healthy, if you're not a healthy person, if you're not feeding yourself the right foods, if you're drinking lots of alcohol and you're eating lots of sugar, that's not the best environment to fight cancer, because it's a metabolic disease that's feeding off all sorts of things."
After her 2021 diagnosis, the Dublin-born presenter decided to slow down her lifestyle significantly. Emphasising self-care, she now starts her day with a peaceful routine: "There is never enough time to do everything you will have to sacrifice something to make way for something else."
But, as Julia notes, when it comes to health, no sacrifice is too great.