Sarah Harding has heartbreakingly told of how doctors informed her last year that the Christmas period would “probably be her last”.
The former Girls Aloud singer revealed last August that she had been undergoing treatment for breast cancer, which had spread to other parts of her body.
Sarah has now opened up about her diagnosis in her new memoir Hear Me Out, an extract of which has been published in The Times.
She wrote: “In December my doctor told me that the upcoming Christmas would probably be my last.
“I don’t want an exact prognosis. I don’t know why anyone would want that. Comfort and being as pain-free as possible is what’s important to me now.”
She continued: “I’m at a stage now where I don’t know how many months I have left. Who knows, maybe I’ll surprise everyone, but that’s how I’m looking at things.”
In the extract, Sarah also revealed how she had sepsis while she was being treated in hospital and had to be put in an induced coma on a ventilator for nearly two weeks.
“Even then, the doctor wasn’t sure he was going to be able to pull me back from it, so advised Mum to prepare for the worst,” she said.
Sarah said that when she was off the ventilator, she couldn’t speak properly, and could only make noises to communicate.
The singer said that prior to her diagnosis, she had initially dismissed pain in her body as a cyst, and had put off going to hospital because of the strain they were under due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She has since undergone chemotherapy and a mastectomy.
“It’s very hard to wake up every morning knowing that a part of me is missing; that part of my womanhood is gone,” Sarah said of the operation to remove her breast. “The loss of it breaks my heart.”
She added that she has ruled out having reconstructive surgery as she is too ill and knows she would “just end up back in intensive care”.
Sarah is best known as a member of the Brit Award-winning band Girls Aloud, who rose to fame on Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 and went on to score four UK number one singles.
She said she had been flooded with messages of support from fans since going public with her diagnosis, saying she is “grateful beyond words”.
Sarah’s memoir Hear Me Out is published by Ebury on Thursday.