After bravely facing two life-changing battles with cancer, Sarah Ferguson has opened up about the difficulty of facing such a daunting challenge, comparing it to “a bomb going off in your life”.
After triumphing over breast cancer, Ferguson was faced with another health challenge recently when she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma.
Thankfully, she was given the all-clear by doctors that the cancer had not spread.
Now, during a recent interview with The Times, Ferguson reflected on her experience of being diagnosed and how she managed to cope during such a difficult time.
“It was hard. I’m generally a positive person but cancer is like a bomb going off in your life,” she said.
“One diagnosis is enough to deal with, but I had two in the space of a year. I don’t mind admitting that my mind went to some dark places, reflecting on my own mortality.
“My family have been an immense support to me through this period.
“I’ve used meditation and mindfulness to help stay positive and balanced.”
Despite her gruelling health battle, Ferguson recently reflected on the emotional transformation her experience sparked.
“My melanoma scars, the scars of my cancer, it took me being literally carved up to cut away the addictions of self-doubt and self-judgment that I have lived with since the age of 11,” she told the Daily Telegraph.
“Don’t wait to be cut open in order to cut away the addiction.”
For Ferguson, her struggles with self-worth had, for years, manifested in a complex relationship with food.
“My addiction was my addiction to food,” she revealed.
“I ate to compensate for my feelings.
“It started at 11, my whole world was food, and my life was in the corner on the bottom right-hand side.”
While her cancer journey was no doubt daunting, Ferguson revealed that coming out on the other side shifted her perspective entirely.
“When I got cancer I put my life back in the middle and food back in its rightful place, not intentionally,” she said.
“It just happened because I realised that I was eating instead of living.”