Sarah Cawood has revealed how her gruelling cancer treatment destroyed her libido and said ‘that part of her life’ with husband Andy Merry was now sadly over.
The TV presenter, 53, was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in August 2022 after doctors discovered a lump during a routine mammogram.
Sarah, who is now cancer free, then underwent a lumpectomy with sentinel node removal followed by radiotherapy and long-term hormone treatment.
She explained that following her diagnosis, she was forced to stop taking HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) which she’d been prescribed for the menopause, and as a result her libido ‘disappeared over night’.
‘It can feel like everybody is having the best sex of their lives but that part of my life is gone and it does make me feel really sad’.
Sarah married TV producer Andy in 2012 and together they are parents to son Hunter, 13, and daughter Autumn, 12.
Sarah Cawood has revealed how her gruelling cancer treatment destroyed her libido and said ‘that part of her life’ with husband Andy Merry was now sadly over
She went on to tell The Sun: ‘It’s a massive loss to us both but we make sure we keep an open dialogue because it’s important to not brush these things under the carpet’.
While not being formally diagnosed, Sarah said she believed that she was also suffering from Vaginal Atrophy which can make sex painful, another factor negatively affecting intimacy with her husband.
‘Basically, it can feel like there’s something in the way of any sort of penetration, and it hurts like hell’.
Vaginal atrophy used to be a medical term for thinning and drying of the vagina’s inner lining, often after menopause.
Last year Sarah revealed her cancer had gone, yet understandably, her worries continue to linger and she detailed her concerns in a short video of her driving her car as text popped up on the screen reading: ‘Daily thoughts of a cancer survivor.
‘I feel tired… Maybe it’s back. What’s that odd lump? Maybe it’s back. I have a scan soon… What if it’s back?’
A caption below the clip said: ‘This is the reality of anyone who has had any kind of cancer. I never struggled with health anxiety before but post-breast cancer it’s all consuming and it wears me out a bit tbh.
‘I have been feeling tired since the new year began and although it’s probably life just life-ing, there’s always a niggling worry that It’s Back.
‘All I can do is carry on doing healthy things, moving my body, practicing mindfulness and living each day with gratitude that I got to breathe again this morning.
‘So on we go! Batting away those intrusive thoughts and Getting On With It. To anyone either going through a cancer diagnosis or anyone who has recovered from cancer and feels like this: I’ve got you, and my inbox is always open.
Sarah married TV producer Andy in 2012 and together they are parents to son Hunter, 14, and daughter Autumn, 12
‘And remember, anything that doesn’t feel right: get it checked out. Early detection is key.’
The heart-wrenching video has not been the first time Sarah had concerns over the return of the grueling diagnosis as broke down in tears on Instagram in May as she revealed she was ‘anxious’ because, she feared ‘her breast cancer may have returned.
Sharing a video crying in bed next to her sleeping son Hunter, 13, Sarah said she had an appointment booked for that week after having a recent mammogram and she hoped she was ‘overreacting’.
She wrote: ‘I got a text today telling me I have an appointment on Tuesday… I had a mammogram two weeks ago, but I also told the breast care nurses I was concerned about some marks on my other boob, so I don’t know whether this appointment is about that (which has already disappeared) or my mammogram.
‘I’m sure it’s the latter, but the fact it’s a bank holiday weekend and the appointment is so soon has me all kinds of anxious.
‘It never leaves you. The fear that It’s Back.’
