Michelle Heaton reveals heartbreaking reality that she faces a DECADE of menopause at 37 after double mastectomy and hysterectomy
Mum of two says it's 'tough' but she couldn't risk her children losing their mother
MICHELLE Heaton has revealed she's hit early menopause after undergoing a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy — and that she expects it to last for a decade.
The mum of two, 37, was diagnosed with the BRCA2 cancer gene when she was 33, meaning she had an 85 per cent chance of developing breast cancer.
The gene is hereditary, and both her grandmother and great-grandmother had died of the disease in their 30s.
Then mum to baby girl Faith with her businessman husband Hugh Hanley, ex-Liberty X star Michelle opted to have both breasts removed in 2012.
In 2014, after the birth of son Aaron, she also decided to get a hysterectomy — with surgeons removing her womb, cervix, ovaries and fallopian tubes.
As a result of the surgeries, however, Michelle won't be able to have any more children, and she's already undergoing menopause, which hits the average UK woman at age 51.
She said: "I'll be going through menopause until my body is at a natural age where I would have gone through it.
"It's really tough knowing I've still got such a long road ahead. Emotionally, there are good days and bad days. I have hormone replacement injections every six months.
She added: "Towards the end of the treatment, I can feel myself getting more tired, irritated and not myself."
She said she sometimes confuses her menopause symptoms with ordinary mood swings, explaining: "Some days I'm just being a whiny b***h, feeling the way we all do sometimes. Other days it's not that, it's something else. You can't tell the difference."
Michelle, who had reconstructive surgery following her double mastectomy, also revealed doctors had found lumps in her new breasts — but fortunately they're benign.
She continues to get checked every six months.
BRCA2 is similar to the BRCA1 cancer gene actress Angelina Jolie was famously diagnosed with, putting her at increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
Having lost her mother and her grandmother to ovarian cancer and an aunt to breast cancer, the mum of six also opted to have her breasts, ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.