Springwatch presenter Michaela Strachan reveals second cancer scare 12 years after devastating breast cancer battle that led to double mastectomy

Springwatch presenter Michaela Strachan has revealed a second cancer scare, 12 years after her devastating breast cancer battle. 

The BBC wildlife expert, 59, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 after competing in ITV's diving show Splash!

Michaela received the diagnosis following a routine mammogram in Cape Town and eventually underwent a double mastectomy as part of her treatment. 

But the presenter said this week that she had a second health scare after eagle-eyed viewers spotted a lump on her throat while she was live on air. 

'I did have a second scare, which was extraordinary, because I was doing Springwatch and I had a few people after the show message me and say, did you know you've got a lump on your throat?' Michaela said on the How to Be 60 with Kaye Adams podcast.

'I was like, "have I?" I was watching the show back in bed - because I'm slightly geeky like that, I've always watched the live show back - and I thought, "oh my god, I do - I've got a lump".'

Michaela, who has presented BBC Two's Springwatch with Chris Packham since 2011, added: 'It was like an Adam's apple at the side of my throat that was moving up and down as I spoke.'

She continued: 'I mentioned it to the production team. I said, "I don't expect there's any chance of seeing a doctor?" We were up in the Cairngorms [in Scotland] at the time.

'They managed to get a doctor in and I explained that I'd had breast cancer. They said, "With that history, we need to get you seen".'

The discovery led to an urgent blood test at a local hospital and a weekend appointment with a throat cancer specialist in Harley Street.

But what made the situation particularly distressing was that she felt she couldn't talk about it beyond her closest circle as the scare happened in 2019 when fellow TV presenter Nicki Chapman, 59, had just been diagnosed with a brain tumour.

'Everyone was talking about Nicki,' she said. 'I can't say, "by the way, I just found a lump on my throat, it could be cancer!" So the whole thing was just awful.'

The star, who lives in South Africa with her film director partner Nick Chevallier - the father of her son Oliver, 20 - faced her fears head-on during the specialist appointment.

She recalled: 'I said, "give me the worst case scenario" and he said, "I don't want to do that". I said, "Well, I'm asking you. Could it be cancer?"

'He said, "It could be, but it would be highly unlikely. I've never heard of secondary breast cancer in your throat. It could be throat cancer - it could be completely separate". I said, "then what?" He said, "then we'd remove it", and I said, "if you remove it, could I use my voice? Could it affect my vocal cords?"

'He said, "yes it could". I said, "okay, best case scenario?". "Best case scenario it's just a benign cyst". "Might you have to remove it?" "Yes". "If you remove it, could it affect my vocal cords?" "Yes".

'I'm thinking, oh great, none of this is sounding good. None of it. Then I go back to do Springwatch on the Monday. So that was horrible, really horrible.'

Fortunately, tests revealed the lump was indeed a benign cyst which doctors were able to drain without any complications, and Michaela has since recovered.

'I still don't quite understand what it means,' she admitted on the podcast. 'That's the one that's slightly more likely to spread to the other breasts.'

She added that doctors had given her the choice of having one or both breasts removed, but after consulting a friend who'd had the same type of cancer, she opted for a double mastectomy.

'She said to me, "get them both off",' Michaela recalled. 'She said, "you don't want to be looking at that other one and always wondering whether it's going to come back into that breast".'

Her friend also warned her about the psychological impact, telling her: 'If you have the double, they're just then the same and you don't end up looking at the one still there thinking, I wish I still had my normal boob on the other side.'

The diagnosis was particularly devastating for her partner Nick, whose previous wife died of colon cancer, leaving him to raise three children who had lost their mother.

'To go back to your partner and say I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer, when he lost his previous wife to cancer, is an incredibly tough thing to do,' Michaela said.

'Everyone around me was like, "oh my god, how is Nick handling this?",' she explained. 'So because of that, I became the stoic one. I was like, "right, let's just get through it".'

Michaela later realised she needed to properly process the trauma and underwent trauma therapy release (TRE), which involves exercises that make the body shake uncontrollably to release trauma. 'I cried the first time I did it, and suddenly I'm sobbing,' she said. 'That was getting the trauma out.'

Now approaching her 60th birthday in April, Michaela said the experience of surviving cancer has changed her perspective on life.

'I think when you've had the big C scare, which so many people have had, it does make you feel like every year's a bonus,' she reflected. 

'I think, great, let's just make the most of it because who knows what's going to happen next.'