SUPPORT SYSTEM Having cancer like mum made me stronger but it took long time to get confidence back, says Corrie star Victoria Ekanoye
But both women have had their confidence destroyed by breast cancer.
“We’re part of this club that no one wants to be in, but we have each other, that’s what’s important,” Victoria tells Sun on Sunday Health.
The 43-year-old, best known for her role as Angie Appleton on Coronation Street, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021.
After the birth of her son Theo, now four, Victoria discovered a lump while breastfeeding, and went on to have a double mastectomy — a procedure to remove both breasts.
The actress, from Bury, Greater Manchester, says: “Cancer can mean you’re left looking at a different body in the mirror.
“There’s no escaping that, you see it every day, and it impacts every aspect of your life.
“You can feel like a big part of your femininity has been taken away, and it takes a long time to get that confidence back.”
Traumatic aftermath
Thankfully, Victoria, who was the fifth person in her family to battle the disease, slowly started to feel good in her own skin after being given the all-clear from cancer.
“Now, I feel better about my body than ever,” she adds.
Victoria’s diagnosis came 18 years after her own mum’s.
Candy, who raised her daughters Victoria and Natasha single-handedly, was a super-fit gym enthusiast and when she pulled a muscle in her armpit in 2003, a doctor found a lump in her left breast.
After further examination to confirm it was cancer, she underwent a lumpectomy, which involves removing the tumour and any surrounding abnormal tissues.
Candy’s breast was left several cup sizes smaller than the other and, petrified following the traumatic aftermath of her first operation, she opted not to follow up with a reconstruction.
She says: “I was really crazy about fitness — biceps, a six-pack, the lot.
“I’d always had big knockers — an E cup — to the point my nickname at school was ‘Tomorrow’s Breast’ because they never seemed to stop growing.
“Having the lumpectomy reduced my breast to a B cup as they had to take away so much tissue. Doctors offered me a reconstruction, but they said it wouldn’t happen straight away, and I’d have to heal up first.
“I was just so happy to be alive, I didn’t want to go under the knife again.
“It was tough because I’ve got a really massive scar and some keloid scarring (raised, thick scars) where they had to butcher my breasts to get the lump out.”
Her fear of getting naked, and showing off her scars, meant Candy, 61, shied away from dating for seven years.
It left Victoria and Natasha no choice but to secretly intervene, signing their mum up for Channel 4’s First Dates in the hope it would give her a post-cancer confidence boost. Candy says: “The girls put my name forward without me knowing.
“They FaceTimed me and said, ‘We wanted to run it by you but . . . we’ve already done it’. It was only then that I felt ready to give it a go.
“I was petrified. I hadn’t dated for seven years, mainly because I’d been unwell, and then in a bad place because of that. I felt I couldn’t do anything.
“Plus, I both look and feel young so the men my age all felt too old for me. I would look at them and think, ‘I need some younger flesh’.
“But ultimately, my confidence had been knocked.” Ready to step back into the dating scene, Candy had a change of heart about her breast reconstruction.
“As you get older, gravity starts to come into play — and while my right breast is coming down, the B cup breast is frozen in time and I can’t find a bra to fit both without a jelly [insert] to even them out,” she says.
“Victoria has helped me find a doctor to do the operation, which will boost my confidence.
“I knew I’d have to deal with that at some point because what if a date gets touchy-feely?”
On her First Dates appearance, Candy revealed she wrote letters to her daughters just in case she didn’t survive her breast cancer diagnosis.
“If I wasn’t going to be here, at least they would have something from me to read — though I never wanted the girls to feel they were going to lose me,” she says.
“It’s taken a long time and hasn’t been easy for me to talk about, but with the help of bereavement counselling, I feel better about sharing my story.
“Cancer has made me stronger, and helped me to understand I can handle anything life throws at me.”
Both Candy and Victoria agree that cancer affected them equally physically and mentally, despite both being in remission.
Victoria says: “Mum didn’t tell anyone she had cancer until the day of her surgery because she was trying to protect everyone.
“I could see how much my diagnosis hurt her, but it was nice to have someone who could empathise and support me.
“While I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through what my mum and I have, having cancer has changed my life for good and, like her, it has made me stronger.”
Candy is yet to find that special someone. Her First Dates experience ended with Yorkshireman David, also 61, suggesting they be better off as friends.
She says: “He was really good-looking, and the experience was amazing, but we never exchanged numbers and went our separate ways.
“Nonetheless, it was a nice way to start, when you know someone else has done the work of picking someone for you — it’s not like having to scroll on a dating app.
“I’ve been chatting to men, but nothing has come of anything yet — I’m still looking for my Mr Right.
“I was thinking maybe Jason Momoa, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, or even Fred Sirieix himself.”
- First Dates airs on Channel 4 on Mondays at 10pm.
