BBC soap star in tears and says 'I don't feel like a fighter' in emotional cancer update

By Michelle Marshall, Senior Showbiz Reporter

Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian 'doesn't feel like a fighter' as she shares cancer update (Image: Instagram Ali Bastian)

Hollyoaks icon Ali Bastian has confessed to moments of vulnerability amid her health ordeal, sharing a candid update with followers.

Previously reeling from the "total shock" diagnosis of stage two breast cancer, the 42 year old actress has been enduring weekly chemotherapy, while a mastectomy and radiotherapy is set for early next year.

Ali, also known for her roles in BBC One's Doctors and as a contestant on the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, found a lump whilst breastfeeding her daughter Isabella. Initially dismissed as potentially a blocked milk duct, persistent discomfort prompted a specialist visit, resulting in the harrowing confirmation of cancer.

In her latest heartfelt social media post, accompanied by a photo of herself clad in a grey shirt and donning a head wrap, Ali penned: "Some days you don't feel like the fighter people tell you you are, and that's ok too. This is not an easy path. There is cortisol in tears and they are better out than in."

Ali Bastian shared an update with fans (Image: Instagram/alibastianinsta)

Speaking to OK! Magazine last month about her ongoing battle, she disclosed: "It was a total shock. I have mornings when I wake up and I've forgotten... and then suddenly I remember. I'm still trying to process it."

Husband David O'Mahony also shared his perspective: "I was with the kids and Ali stuck her head round the door and said that cancerous cells had turned up in the biopsy.

"She said it in the most subtle way so the girls didn't twig. I could see how scared and in shock she was. It's so tempting to try and 'positive' your way through news like this but it just hit us like a sledgehammer. I just had a feeling of it being so unfair that Ali had been dealt this hand."

Hollyoaks and Strictly star Ali Bastian opened up about her health (Image: Instagram/ @alibastianinsta)

Ali, who is best known for her role as Becca Dean in Channel 4's Hollyoaks from 2001 to 2007, relocated from London to rural Ireland with their two daughters, Isla and Isabella, and partner David earlier this year.

She took to Instagram to discuss her major burn out caused by life in London and the challenges that followed her second pregnancy being some of the reasons she moved.

She had spoken excitedly in May about living in house "overlooking the ocean on the West Coast of Ireland" before her devastating cancer news which came in June.