MP wants to dispel secondary breast cancer myths

Ashley Dalton MP says she was "absolutely fine" and it was "business as usual"

An MP diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time wants to "debunk" misconceptions about metastatic cancers.

Labour MP for West Lancashire Ashley Dalton revealed earlier this month that her surgery in July had removed all detectable cancer cells.

She said that since telling people about her cancer diagnosis she has become increasingly aware of how misunderstood the condition is.

"When you have cancer you do seem to spend a lot of time just explaining it and that can be exhausting," she said.

Metastatic cancer is when cancer begins in one part of the body before spreading to other areas.

The Parliamentary Private Secretary to Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting told BBC Radio Lancashire metastatic cancer was treatable but not curable.

Ms Dalton was first diagnosed with the disease in 2014 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

She had surgery in July after the cancer spread to her ovaries.

There are currently no identifiable tumours in her body so she will not need to undergo any further treatment unless new cancer cells are discovered in regular scans, she said.

She said this is classed as oligometastatic "which means it has spread to just one or two small places you might be able to deal with reasonably easily".

However, she said most metastatic cancers including breast cancer are not curable.

"You can't just get rid but many of them are very treatable."

Since going public with her diagnosis, she said she had had a lot of messages from people thanking her for debunking misconceptions about cancer.

"When you have cancer you do seem to spend a lot of time just explaining it and that can be exhausting," she said.

"People do seem to think it is one thing or the other so they think I am about to drop dead or I am completely cured and there is a lot in between for people like me," she said.

She said it was "business as usual" and "work carries on".

Ms Dalton said while she was "absolutely fine" she "might not be at some point".

"It might be back in ten weeks, ten months, ten years, it might not come back at all," she said.

"When you have had a cancer diagnosis it is that kind of uncertainty you have to deal that most people just never think of."

She said it can be worrying "but you just have to keep going".

"Today is all any of us have really got," she added.