Why Koo Stark had to choose life over her looks

KOO Stark, the one-time girlfriend of Prince Andrew, has taken a decision few women would ever want to make.

Having had her right breast removed last autumn after being diagnosed with cancer, the 46-year-old former topless model has now had a left-breast mastectomy in the belief that it will lessen the chances of the disease striking again.

She had been advised by British doctors that such a move was somewhat premature, so Miss Stark underwent the surgery in the United States.

That she did so, not so much out of fear of the disease but dissatisfaction with British standards, should be ringing alarm bells with health professionals. For the fact remains that a series of hospitals failed to diagnose her original condition over a period of two years.

Miss Stark says she took the drastic step in the hope of ensuring she sees her six-year-old daughter, Tatiana, grow up.

In 2000, her daughter had noticed a "rock-like" lump while giving her mother a hug. The actress underwent a needle biopsy and a sonogram, and consulted a number of private British doctors who repeatedly advised her that the recovered cells were "suspicious" but not cancerous or pre-cancerous.

It was only two years after discovering the lump that a surgeon in Florida diagnosed stage two breast cancer, which had spread to the lymph nodes. The doctor removed her right breast along with 16 lymph nodes.

At the time, medics warned that the lobular cancer with which she had been diagnosed could reoccur in her remaining healthy breast. Following a mammogram in London last autumn, doctors diagnosed microcalcifications - a build-up of calcium deposits - in Miss Stark’s left breast.

Cancer specialists in London advised her that to remove the breast would be premature, and suggested she undergo a biopsy to discover if the deposits were malignant.

Miss Stark decided to seek a second opinion in the US, however. She said: "I don’t regret the decision to remove my second breast. I was incorrectly diagnosed in this country for two years. When they said they were going to take a biopsy and have it analysed, it didn’t fill me with great confidence.

"Had I had a correct decision originally when the suspicious lump in my right breast was analysed, I would not have had stage-two lymph cancer that went into the lymph glands.

"I was told it would take four days for the results of the biopsy to come back. In a biopsy you’re never sure you’ve got all the cancer cells, so it’s still a worry. If it were cancer I would have those disturbed cells running around my body for four days. I wasn’t happy about that."

Reflecting on her decision to have a second mastectomy in little more than a year, Miss Stark said: "The safest thing to do was to get rid of the second breast. I just want to give myself the best chance possible to live. I looked at my daughter and thought, ‘It’s lovely to be beautiful but better to be healthy’."

The same surgeon who performed the first mastectomy carried out the operation.

"My surgeon and I discussed the option of doing nothing and just watching it, but I knew that would cause me more worry," she said. "We decided it would be better to have the breast off. There is still a risk the cells might come back in other organs such as the liver or the brain, but the likelihood after having both breasts removed is 0.02 per cent."

The breast cancer rate in the UK has doubled in the past 25 years to 40,000 cases annually.

Miss Stark said: "I have no qualms about saying I am more confident in the medical treatment in America. The breast cancer survival rate is 20 per cent higher than in the UK."

A spokeswoman for the UK charity www.breastcancercare.org.uk Breast Cancer Care said: "Every woman has the right to choose what treatment she will have. Each woman will make her decision depending on her own personal circumstances and wishes. It will be different for everyone."

However, Miss Stark appears to be coming to terms with the surgery. She said: "Looking on the bright side, my clothes are hanging much better than they did before. Now I can go shopping and I might even decide to buy a new pair of breasts."

But she has no imminent plans for reconstructive surgery. She added: "Medical guidelines advise women to have reconstructive surgery because breasts are closely associated with femininity. That’s ridiculous. Femininity is a philosophy and an attitude, it’s nothing to do with a pair of bosoms."

Miss Stark is now setting up a charity for breast cancer prevention through her work with the cancer charity the Haven Trust, and hopes to highlight the links between cancer and the environment.

She said: "When you face a life-threatening illness, every moment is precious. I’m doing this because I don’t want to get breast cancer again. At the moment the cures are barbaric. I don’t want my daughter, or anyone else’s daughter, to get it."