Sky News presenter Jacquie Beltrao says she’s had ‘miracle escape’ from breast cancer after fearing only months to live

SITTING in the car with her family, Jacquie Beltrao braced herself for more bleak news as she took a call from a doctor about her breast cancer.

Eight weeks ago, the brave Sky News sports presenter had been told her stage-four cancer had spread to her legs and spine — and she feared having just months to live.

But last week’s call revealed the tumours had vanished and incredibly there is now “no evidence of cancer”.

The news sparked tears, hugs and yells of relief and elation in the car.

Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, Jacquie, 56, said: “It was almost a year ago that my cancer had returned and that it was worse than ever.

“I had feared the worst and had times when I’d hear a piece of music and think, ‘That’ll be good for my funeral’.

"There were dark days, so to be told there is no evidence of cancer now is unbelievable.

“I was expecting bad news or, at best, that my aggressive cancer hadn’t got worse. But to be told there is no evidence of it now is beyond my wildest dreams.

“Previously, I may have been looking at two years. Now I can enjoy life again. I’m living proof that anything is possible.”

The former Olympic gymnast — who is backing The Sun on Sunday’s Get Checked campaign — has today called on others to be vigilant about potential cancer symptoms and not to delay seeing a doctor.

In an exclusive interview, Jacquie, who has worked at Sky News for almost 30 years, believes thinking positively about the disease as well as taking a new cancer drug, twice a day, helped turn her prognosis around.

Jacquie, who has three children — Amelia, 23, Tiago, 20, and Jorge, 19 — with husband Eduardo, also revealed how her scan results came just two hours after receiving the heart-breaking news her beloved mother-in-law Anna had died.

She said: “To find out Anna had died was devastating to all of us. It is almost eerie that I got my scan news just a couple of hours later.

“It’s such a shame I couldn’t share the news with her. But who knows, maybe she had a part to play in making sure I got the diagnosis?”

Jacquie, who has almost 100,000 Twitter followers, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013. She had a mastectomy and reconstruction.

At one point she was told the chances of any cancer returning in the next five years were around three out of 100 — odds she described as “pretty damn good”.

In a bid to fight off the disease, she overhauled her diet, giving up dairy, started yoga and began running three times a week.

But in May last year, Jacquie found a bump the size of a grain of rice just below her collarbone. In the following days she learned her cancer had returned and it was more aggressive than before.

Doctors said it was stage four and that she would never be fully rid of it.

Jacquie, who was this week broadcasting from both Wimbledon and Wembley Stadium, said: “It really hit me for six. Up to that point I’d be quite positive.

“I would have some very dark thoughts. I looked up how long people live for from stage-four cancer and it said a max of two years.

“I would hear music and think, ‘That would be good for my funeral’ or, ‘Maybe I should have pop music’ or, ‘Maybe classic pieces would be more stylish for my funeral’. It’s dark.

“I had to deal with this during the height of the lockdown, too.

"When you get a diagnosis like that you want to go out and live life, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t go on family holidays or go out with friends. I couldn’t even have people around my house to talk to.”

Just two months ago the outlook for Jacquie, who has endured 12 rounds of chemotherapy, was made even tougher when a scan found the cancer had spread to each leg and her spine.

She said: “That was yet another blow. But I had decided to change my approach.

"I started trying to think more positively, so rather than think about funerals, I channelled thoughts of my children getting married or holding my grandchild. I thought it might help.”

Another change came in the shape of a targeted therapy drug called Olaparib.

Jacquie said: “The best way to describe it is to imagine your cancer as a three-legged chair and the drug comes in and knocks one of the legs down and collapses it.

“I only started taking it eight weeks ago. I was feeling good from it.

"My tiny lump on my neck had receded, I could tell my lymph nodes were down, I had a feeling my next scan would show the spread may have slowed. But I never dreamed I would get the result I did.”

Jacquie had her scan on the morning of June 25 and she received the call from her oncologist just hours later. She was in the car with Eduardo and their two sons when she answered.

Jacquie said: “The phone rang and my heart stopped.

“I’d only had the scan that day so I knew the news would be something I needed to know about straight away.

“She just said, ‘Your results are really, really good’.

“I thought she meant the drug had stunted the growth of the cancer but then she said, ‘No, there’s no evidence of the disease at all’.

"She explained all of the tumours had gone on the scan, whereas eight weeks ago the cancer could be seen really prominently.

“I sat there with my mouth open. I asked, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure?’

“She said, ‘Yes Jacquie, you can start to enjoy your life and stop living scan to scan. I’m going to send you the scan to see’.

“My husband and kids started laughing and shouting, then there was hugging and crying. There was such relief. I later told my daughter. She just burst into tears of relief.”

The family had been reeling from from the news that Eduardo’s 78-year-old mother, Anna, who lived in Rio de Janeiro, had died suddenly from a stroke.

Jacquie said: “She was a ray of sunshine and was so worried about me that it is tragic that she was only a few hours away from hearing my good news. I think she is maybe up there raising a glass to me.”

Jacquie, who is hopeful Olaparib will continue to keep her cancer at bay, is looking forward to a healthier and brighter future.

She said: “I can now go on holiday and not think it could be my last with the family.

“I am well aware that lots of people lurch from one bad scan to another. My heart goes out to them.

“I have also seen higher numbers of people getting treated for cancer in the past few months. People have clearly put off getting things checked out during lockdown.

“My advice is to get yourself checked out even if you don’t think it’s a big deal. If you can catch it early you can really save yourself all kinds of trouble. It’s so important.”