It was hard not to raise a smile at Sarah Ferguson’s spirited delivery of devastating cancer news
THE Duchess of York’s shock breast cancer diagnosis was revealed this week.
Sarah Ferguson, 63, had a single mastectomy at the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London before being discharged on Saturday.
She will now spend months recuperating at Royal Lodge in Windsor where she lives with her ex-husband, Prince Andrew.
Speaking on Tea Talks, a new podcast she co-hosts, Sarah said: “I want every single person that is listening to this podcast to go get checked, go get screened, go do it.
“Cancer can be silent, such a silent little hiding thing. Go get screened, go get checked. Don’t wait.”
Here documentary-maker Daphne Barak paints an intimate portrait of her close friend’s bravery in the face of her cancer diagnosis.
WHEN my dear friend Sarah Ferguson found out that she had cancer, she broke the news to me in her typical, irrepressible style.
She promised me that this was the start of a health kick that would see her keep fit, eat right and exercise.
Undaunted, she joked that we could soon go out in our skinny, white jeans.
It was hard not to raise a smile at her spirited delivery of such devastating news – but I was still worried about my friend of 30 years.
I first met Sarah in 1992 when I interviewed her as a young journalist known for getting the big prime-time interviews but we have grown closer in recent years.
Now, three decades on, she was sharing some of the most devastating news a person could receive.
My mother died of breast cancer and I knew how difficult the road could be.
I was at my home in California on May 11 when Sarah first mentioned that something was wrong.
We had been texting back and forth when I told her I had been to the doctor’s for a scheduled check-up.
She thanked me for looking after myself.
At first I thought it was typical Sarah, kindly looking out for one of her friends.
It was the middle of the night in Los Angeles – but her follow-up message caused me to jolt upright in my bed.
She told me she had to have a little operation the following week.
I was shocked when she told me that a small lump had been found during a routine mammogram – her doctors believed that it was pre-cancerous growth and that it had been caught early.
Medics investigated further using a special dye injected into her vein before an MRI scan to create a clearer picture of the possible cancer.
It was after this procedure that they made the decision to remove the lump through surgery.
She went in for the op the following week at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London.
‘Cancer can be silent, such a silent little hiding thing’
It went smoothly – and we hoped that it would prove to be a cancer scare, nothing more.
In the meantime, Sarah insisted that it would be business as usual.
She travelled to Bogata with her charity Sarah’s Trust and attended a wedding in Venice, sending me a photo in a silky green dress on one of the famous gondolas.
She looked stunning, the picture of health.
Sarah kept travelling for her charity work and played the doting grandmother to her new grandson Ernest, who put a huge smile on her face.
She was over the moon about the new arrival – but told me she was feeling fragile.
The next day, my heart almost stopped when she told me she would be going in for a mastectomy the following Tuesday.
A biopsy of the lump had confirmed that it was indeed cancer.
Sarah’s initial instinct was to try and cheer me up with her joke about purchasing those matching skinny jeans.
Ever selfless, she told me not to worry.
I’ve been close to Sarah for decades but even I was taken aback by her bravery in the face of such an ordeal.
She seemed to care more about keeping my spirits up than she did her own diagnosis.
I offered to fly from the US to join her for the operation but she told me she was in good hands.
Her sister Jane had joined her from Australia and her daughters have been a source of comfort too – Eugenie has all but moved in with her mum in recent weeks and Beatrice is on the phone constantly.
When it came to the day of the mastectomy last Tuesday (June 20), I could sense she was nervous.
I was anxiously awaiting news when last Sunday she messaged to say that she was at last back home.
She said she was still digesting what had happened to her and described it as “extraordinary.”
I sent her a bouquet of purple flowers, her favourite colour.
Shell-shocked but determined
When I spoke to her a day later she seemed shell-shocked but determined.
“You will beat this,” I told her. She agreed that she would.
Sarah admits that she has a “long recovery” ahead of her but if anyone has the spirit to take this on then she does.
Because my friend has already had to shoulder so much.
Recent years have been particularly fraught.
She has been a rock for her ex-husband, amid the scandal of his association with disgraced tycoon Jeffrey Epstein.
When she was awaiting her first operation back in May, she feared it could all have been brought on from stress.
We discussed the situation in April, when I met Sarah in London.
My husband Erbil Gunasti and I were in town for meetings about an upcoming TV special and naturally made time to see our friend.
It was my birthday and even though Sarah had already sent a thoughtful gift to my US home, she arrived with another.
We share a love of dogs and she presented me with a special bag for walking my three pooches, which includes spaces for treats and poo bags.
In turn, I gave her a summer handbag and a golf visor which she gleefully modelled in Erbil’s snaps from the day.
It was a fun afternoon, but it was also emotional.
Sarah is the glue of the York family and has been feeling, at times, almost breathless as a result of her ex-husband Prince Andrew’s friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The torrent of articles and documentaries have taken their toll.
Sarah would be the first to admit that she has made mistakes – who hasn’t?
But she felt the full weight of the consequences of Andrew’s association with Epstein, even though she had little to do with the disgraced financier herself.
Because she keeps her family close, and has been a superb mother, grandmother and supportive friend to her ex-husband while in despair (more than anyone knows), she has found herself guilty by association.
Though Andrew has always denied that he had ever met his accuser Virginia Roberts-Giuffre, his reputation has undeniably been tarnished.
And Sarah has been there through it all. When Andrew was stripped from his titles and his patronages.
When he was demoted to a non-working royal, and lost everything that he knew, including his beloved mum.
She was there when various family members and friends were cruel and disparaging, and she was by his side after the Queen’s death when ‘bad messengers’ suggested they should vacate their home.
Sarah with Erbil and I in Beverly Hills back in March while promoting her novel A Most Intriguing Lady.
It was around this time that reports stated that she was not invited to the King’s coronation.
But rather than react with upset or anger, Sarah handled it with grace.
She reminded me that she was invited to both Christmas and Easter gatherings with the Royal Family and that she enjoys a warm relationship with Camilla.
I admired the positive way she looked at it. Just as I admire the positive way she continues to deal with her cancer diagnosis.
And I have two pairs of skinny jeans waiting in my wardrobe ready for when she’s feeling better.
- Daphne Barak is a documentary filmmaker who has interviewed the likes of Nelson Mandela, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton.