Elizabeth Hurley ‘anger’ over grandmother’s cancer

ELIZABETH Hurley has described her anger at being unable to help her grandmother, who died from breast cancer.

Elizabeth Hurley's grandmother died in 1992 after suffering from breast cancer. Picture: AP

The actress, a global ambassador for the Estee Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, said her grandmother showed her scars from a double mastectomy but changed the subject.

She told The Times: “At that time, there was so little written about breast cancer.”

Her grandmother died in 1992.

Hurley said: “It wasn’t until I started to learn about breast cancer through Evelyn Lauder that I began to feel so angry that I hadn’t known more at the time, when perhaps I could have helped her.

“We know that if a cancer is found and treated early, there is a 95% chance of recovery. If only my grandmother and countless other scared women could have known this.”

Hurley was speaking at the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Earlier this year she posted a picture of herself on Twitter after undergoing a mammogram check.

She said: “After 40 you should have an annual mammogram. Had mine this morning.”..

It came after television presenter Michaela Strachan revealed she was diagnosed with the disease.

The Springwatch host said she was forced to have both breasts removed after the cancer was discovered in a mammogram at the start of the year.

She told the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine: “The tears started to roll as my doctor tried to tell me what would happen next, but I only took in every fifth word or so.

“The one word that registered was ‘cancer’.”

Medics advised her to have a double mastectomy.

The star said: “I couldn’t get my head around the fact that on Monday morning I’d been apparently healthy, by Tuesday I had cancer, and by Wednesday I was talking about a double mastectomy.”

The 48-year-old, who is set to undergo reconstructive surgery, stressed her experience showed the importance of regular check-ups.

“If I’d put mine off, my story could have been a very different one,” she said.

Last year, actress Angelina Jolie revealed to the world that she had undergone a double mastectomy to prevent her getting breast cancer.

She took the decision after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation that greatly increases the risk of developing the disease.