After finding a lump while nursing her child, soap opera star Ali Bastian disclosed that she had been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.

The 42-year-old actress, who previously starred in Hollyoaks and advanced to the Strictly Come Dancing semifinals in 2009, is currently getting chemotherapy and is scheduled to receive radiotherapy and a mastectomy.

Stage 2 breast cancer is an early stage of the disease that can indicate the disease is in the breast, adjacent lymph nodes, or both, according to Cancer Research UK.

Bastian, told OK! magazine that “it was a total shock,” when she was told the news in June. The Bill star said: “I have mornings when I wake up and I’ve forgotten… and then suddenly I remember. I’m still trying to process it.”

“It was a bank holiday in Ireland so I went straight to the emergency doctor,” she added, “It really seemed like I had mastitis, especially as I had been night-weaning Izzy before that.I probably had a blocked duct. The doctor gave me antibiotics and said that if it didn’t clear up in a few days I should go to the breast clinic.

“But it wasn’t clearing up and the more I felt it, the more it felt like this wasn’t just a blocked duct. I went to my GP and I said, ‘Actually, can I go to the clinic now?’ and she was very supportive of that.”

Bastian also said there is a “really tough time in which you have the diagnosis but you’re not sure what will happen next”.

She added: “For me that’s where the difficult journey with trust came in. It’s not something that always comes naturally to me – so I have to remind myself daily to trust in my team, trust in the plan and trust it will all be OK.”

The actress says her fellow Hollyoaks stars Sarah Jayne Dunn, Carley Stenson and Jodi Albert have been supportive.

Bastian said: “After my diagnosis, I went on Instagram and saw a post by my friend Dominic Power, my former co-star in The Bill, and I could see he was on set in Hollyoaks. I suddenly had a real pang of, ‘I want to look into an actor’s eyes and do a scene’.. I really miss it.”

The actress, who says the breast cancer is hormone-driven, explains she does not want to “frighten new mums”, but the condition can be “trickier to diagnose” as the tissue “just feels different anyway”.

TheBastian married West End actor O’Mahony in 2019, and they share daughter Isla Rose, and Isabella Charlotte together.

British star became a household name through her role as Becca Dean on Hollyoaks, a character she portrayed for six years. Becca was at the centre of several major storylines, including a controversial affair with student Justin Burton.

She previously told Metro, looking back on her time on the program, that the Channel 4 serial opera has always been audacious in its storytelling.

While the show's production on new episodes was put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic, she noted, "The fantastic thing about Hollyoaks is how they push boundaries with their storylines and break new ground."