Breast cancer: Presenter felt 'helpless' after diagnosis

An S4C presenter has described feeling "helpless" after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Mari Grug, 38, was diagnosed in May and was told the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and liver.

She is on her second of seven cycles of chemotherapy and is expecting to have a mastectomy before Christmas.

"You don't ever expect it to happen to you... you just feel so helpless," she said.

Mari, a presenter of the Heno and Prynhawn Da programmes on S4C as well as on BBC Radio Cymru, said: "It's just been a complete whirlwind."

"I'd like to keep on working but I'll see how I feel as the chemo progresses," she said.

"As a freelance presenter there's no sick pay and I've got to cover my mortgage."

Mari, who lives in Carmarthenshire, said managing to work a few shifts at Heno has kept "a bit of normality in my life".

And she said husband Gareth and their three children Steffan, Tomos and Hanna, have been helping her keep positive.

"They've kept me busy, they keep me going, they have swimming lessons, football training and so on, so that's been great, it's a distraction," she said.

'I've had a lot of messages of encouragement from people who have been through this telling [Gareth]to keep believing, keep the faith, and that helps too."

Mari is no stranger to breast cancer after her mother, now 71, was diagnosed in 1999.

"She's been my role model," said Mari.

"She said to me that finding out you have breast cancer is not the end of the world, but unfortunately, with myself the breast cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and to the liver so my diagnosis is slightly different to what she had and it's just been quite scary."

Mari first found a lump in her breast on 13 April and had an appointment with her GP the following Tuesday.

The following week, after a scan, mammogram, biopsy and blood test, she was told she had cancer.

She said the past few months had been hard but added: "Now I've started chemotherapy and I'm on the journey I feel positive.

"They're throwing everything at me, which and I'm glad you know that I'm able to have the chance to fight it."