Girls Aloud’s Sarah Harding reveals she almost died of sepsis and was in a coma for two weeks after cancer diagnosis
SARAH Harding has revealed she thought she had a cyst, before the pain got worse and she was diagnosed with cancer.
The Girls Aloud star, who has advanced breast cancer, also told how she almost died of sepsis in hospital and was placed in a coma for two weeks.
Sarah, 39, is urging people with health concerns to see a GP — after she avoided hers because of Covid.
In her new book Hear Me Out, she recalls: “At first I thought it was just a cyst. The trouble was the pain was getting worse. It got so bad that I couldn’t sleep in a bed. Eventually my skin started to bruise. By now I was terrified.
“One day I woke up realising I’d been in denial. Yes there was a pandemic but it was almost as if I’d been using that as an excuse not to face up to the fact that something was very wrong.”
Sarah publicly revealed last August that she had breast cancer which had spread to other parts of her body. What fans did not know was that she was rushed to intensive care before her chemo began, after a port in her chest led to sepsis.
Sarah wrote: “With both my lungs and kidneys failing, doctors decided to put me into an induced coma. Even once I was off the ventilator I couldn’t speak properly. All I could do was make noises like a chimpanzee trying to communicate.”
Sarah went on to start chemo and have a mastectomy. She said: “I remember the surgeons saying they would make a drawing of what parts of my breast needed to be taken away and it was virtually all of it.
“I’m so glad that Mum was there waiting for me because when I woke up I screamed the place down. Now there’s just a bunch of stitches where my breast used to be. I can’t look at myself in the mirror anymore. I don’t recognise myself.”
During her initial treatment in Watford last summer, Sarah was placed on a ward with male dementia patients. Nurses used her middle name, Nicole, to ensure she had some privacy.
‘Live and enjoy every second of my life’
She recalled: “I had one scary night when a guy from the other end of the ward was wandering around threatening to beat people up.”
While treatment appeared to be working, further scans revealed she had a second tumour – either at the base of her spine or in the brain.
In Hear Me Out, serialised in The Times, Sarah said she was told by her doctor that Christmas 2020 would be her last.
She wrote: “I don’t know how many months I have left. Maybe I’ll surprise everyone.”
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She added: I’m trying to live and enjoy every second of my life, no matter how long it may be.”
The book, out on Thursday, will also document her rise to fame with Girls Aloud.
She said: “My priorities have changed, but the other Sarah Harding is still in there somewhere too.”
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