BBC News’ Victoria Derbyshire penned emotional ‘goodbye letter’ to sons ahead of mastectomy

Victoria Derbyshire, a presenter for BBC News, openly revealed that she had written a letter of goodbye to her sons because she had feared she wouldn’t have had a mastectomy in 2015.

The hard-hitting broadcaster, 56, underwent the surgery following a breast cancer diagnosis but was racked with fear that she would not wake up from the anaesthetic, leaving her sons without a mother. Victoria appeared on a Happy Mum Happy Baby episode of the podcast hosted by Giovanna Fletcher to discuss the terrifying moment.

On I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, the pair met. in 2020. Victoria said her 11 year old son Oliver was “angry” after he was told about her diagnosis, while her eight year old son Joe said it was a “stressful” time. The presenter said: “I had this really weird anxiety, maybe it’s rational, that I wasn’t going to wake up after the anaesthetic so I wrote each of them a goodbye letter – in case I didn’t wake up.

She continued, “Of course I was going to wake up because a million people have anesthesia every day and wake up,” but that was what was causing me the most anxiety. It wasn’t losing a breast – that was fine, get the cancer out – but what if I don’t see my boys again. “

She added:” So I wrote them letters, which I put in my bedside drawer. In case something were to happen, Mark was aware of where they were. It was “and please remember your manners and will you make sure you’re kind to people,” which I loved. All the stuff I say every day anyway, I just wanted it on paper, just so they’d have it. “

She married her partner Mark Sandell after receiving a diagnosis and receiving treatment for the illness. Victoria made it known that her father Anthony had abused her in September. She recalled how he once covered her with hot soup and also tied his hands around her neck as a child. Additionally, a belt and a wooden spoon were used to beat the victim.

Victoria claimed that her father once allegedly broke her rib and also abused her mother. When her father would go home, she and her siblings would flee their rooms because the abuse was so severe. Her father passed away suddenly four years ago. The presenter made the admission to the Independent.

She said:” He got me up against the pantry door, his hands around my neck. My closest friend was present and yelled abuse at me. I merely looked at him in disbelief. He could see it. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t scream. I simply jumped into the sink and washed it off. It was my attempt to demonstrate that he wasn’t having an impact on me.

Although she claimed that her father had no problem with alcohol, it later became clear that he had abused him. Speaking about the time her mother’s rib was broken she said the doctor’s note simply said” husband trouble. Victoria’s mother moved with her sister Pauline before moving back home a while later in an effort to escape their abusive treatment.

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Source: Mirror