When former Hollyoaks star Ali Bastian and her husband David O’Mahony moved from London to rural Ireland with their two young daughters, they were excited about their new chapter. This spring, they swapped their London flat for a house in West Cork and were settling into their new home when, says Ali, “life threw us a major curve ball”.

Ali, 42, reveals exclusively to OK! that she’s been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. She’s in the midst of weekly chemotherapy treatments, which will last for around five months, and then she’ll undergo a mastectomy and radiotherapy treatment. “It was a total shock,” says Ali, who was diagnosed in the last week of June. “I have mornings when I wake up and I’ve forgotten… and then suddenly I remember. I’m still trying to process it.”

The actor, who has also appeared in Doctors and performed on the seventh series of Strictly, first discovered a lump when she was breastfeeding her daughter Isabella, who is 19 months old. “I hadn’t been breastfeeding Izzy at night but then David flew back to London for work and suddenly she was feeding like crazy. I was thinking, ‘Maybe she’s having a growth spurt or something.’ And because of that, my boobs felt sore. The next morning I woke up and thought, ‘Ouch, this really hurts.’ And that’s when I felt a lump.

“It was a bank holiday in Ireland so I went straight to the emergency doctor,” says Ali, who also has a daughter, Isla, four, with David, 42. “It really seemed like I had mastitis, especially as I had been night-weaning Izzy before that. We thought I probably had a blocked duct. The doctor gave me antibiotics and said that if it didn’t clear up in a few days I should go to the breast clinic.

“But it wasn’t clearing up and the more I felt it, the more it felt like this wasn’t just a blocked duct. I went to my GP and I said, ‘Actually, can I go to the clinic now?’ and she was very supportive of that.”

It took a few days between having scans at the clinic and getting the diagnosis. Ali doesn’t live close to the clinic, so she asked to get the news over the phone. “We agreed that I would text her and that she would then call me back. I could hear it in the tone of her voice but she told me in the kindest way possible. She was very reassuring. She said the words that I’m holding on to, that they have ‘intent to cure me’.”

David, a director and writer, was also at home when she got the diagnosis. “I was with the kids and Ali stuck her head round the door and said that cancerous cells had turned up in the biopsy. She said it in the most subtle way so the girls didn’t twig. I could see how scared and in shock she was. It’s so tempting to try and ‘positive’ your way through news like this but it just hit us like a sledgehammer. I just had a feeling of it being so unfair that Ali had been dealt this hand.”

Ali says that life was a “bit of a blur” in the following few days while she waited to hear what her treatment plan would be. “That’s a really tough time in which you have the diagnosis but you’re not sure what will happen next. For me that’s where the difficult journey with trust came in. It’s not something that always comes naturally to me – so I have to remind myself daily to trust in my team, trust in the plan and trust it will all be OK.”

Tests revealed that Ali’s cancer is hormone-driven, and doctors are looking into whether it’s genetic. Ali’s maternal aunt and grandmother also had breast cancer.

“The multidisciplinary team decided what order I should have my chemotherapy and operation,” says Ali, who is due to have a single mastectomy. “I’ve asked if they would consider a double mastectomy as a preventative measure and they would, but it’s not been fully discussed yet.”

Coping with the Diagnosis

Dealing with the psychological aspect of a cancer diagnosis is a huge challenge. “There have been times when I’ve felt really positive and times when I’ve felt quite frightened,” admits Ali.

She is seeing a psychologist who specializes in oncology. “And when I go for my weekly chemo, the nurses always ask how I’m doing emotionally.”

Ali was also introduced to a peer support mentor, someone who has previously had breast cancer.

“It’s really helpful to talk with someone who is out the other side,” says Ali. “She told me, ‘You’ll be the most frightened you have been and also the bravest you have been.’

“I’ve also been journalling throughout this, which I find helpful. And my stepbrother, who is a doctor, wrote some beautiful words when I started chemo. It was about riding the waves of this, that there will be times where I need to lie down in the boat and rest, and I won’t be feeling like the fighter that everybody’s telling me that I am. That’s when I need to remember that the chemo is still working.”

Ali stayed in hospital overnight for her first chemotherapy treatment. “That was a real moment. I felt like I was getting on this train that was going with or without me and I needed to get on board. For me, it’s not helpful to feel I’m in a ‘battle’ with cancer. It’s not something you choose to go through, it’s something you adapt to.”

The weekly chemo is understandably draining, so Ali’s energy levels fluctuate. “Immediately after treatment I have a couple of low days but then I start to pick up and feel kind of normal actually, which is really nice.”

Staying Active During Treatment

On the day she speaks to OK!, Ali has just finished a workout on her Peloton bike. “I’m trying to exercise through my treatment,” she says. “My oncology team really impressed upon me that exercise can make a difference in terms of recurrence and outcome. If there’s one thing I can do for myself through this it’s to get fit, because I just wasn’t, I’d been in the throes of having two kids. When you get a diagnosis, it can feel like your life is out of control. Exercise helps me feel like I have some agency over my body.”

She adds that David has been “incredible”. “He’s taking on a lot. There are days where I’m not firing on all cylinders.”

David, whose work includes directing audiobooks of Torchwood and Dr Who for Big Finish, looks after Izzy if she wakes in the night so Ali can sleep. He also takes the children for a few hours in the morning to give her space for herself. “I try to say yes whenever she asks for anything – what else can you do but try to be supportive for your loved one?”

Ali also credits the support of her former Hollyoaks co-stars Sarah Jayne Dunn, Carley Stenson and Jodi Albert, who also lives in Ireland.

“Jodi was one of the first people I called. She means the absolute world to me, they all do. We’ve had great fun on Hollyoaks but there’s been so much life since then – the good, the bad and the ugly – and our friendships have endured. We have a deep connection that I’m very grateful for.”

A New Chapter in Ireland

And Ali, who now has a short hairstyle but also wears a wig, tells us, “David cut my hair last night. A neighbour, who’s a hairdresser, kindly offered to cut it, but we decided to have a personal moment – just us.

“I was starting to cut out the matted bits and then David said, ‘Let me help,’ and I now like the style. I know some people like to take that power back and shave it off in one go, but it’s helping me to do it in stages.”

To prepare for the hair loss, Ali had her eyebrows tattooed and had some semi-permanent make-up.

“I went to Olive at Browtique in Clonakilty for eyebrows – she’s also a nurse – and to Olena Luxury Permanent Makeup in Dublin. They were both so lovely and made me feel better. I wish I’d done this years ago. I’ve hardly worn make-up since.”

Ali knows that the mastectomy will be another emotional hurdle. “But I know it needs to happen. I have this urge to have it all done and be healthy.”

The couple are mindful of keeping life as normal as possible for their daughters. “Working out how to tell the girls was tricky. We told Isla what we felt was an age-appropriate version,” says Ali. “I think that no matter how clever you think you’re being as a parent, kids still know more than you think. They have spidey senses that pick up everything, the changes and the whispered conversations.

“She knows that Mummy had a pain in her boob, she was with me when I went to the emergency doctor. We told her that I’m going to take some strong medicine that is making it better and that Mummy’s going to have a crazy haircut for a bit, and it will make me tired sometimes. But we told her there will always be someone here to look after her if Mummy is feeling tired. Children do handle things so much better than you expect.”

Looking Ahead

Ali feels fortunate that she discovered the cancer when she did. “When I was initially assessed at the clinic, there was still a sense that it could be a breastfeeding issue. With breastfeeding, the breast tissue just feels different anyway. I don’t want to frighten new mums at all, but, in my case, it just made it trickier to diagnose.”

Ali is optimistic about the future and is looking forward to returning to acting when her treatment is finished. “I will get through this and come out the other side,” she says, adding, “After my diagnosis, I went on Instagram and saw a post by my friend Dominic Power, my former co-star in The Bill, and I could see he was on set in Hollyoaks. I suddenly had a real pang of, ‘I want to look into an actor’s eyes and do a scene,’” she says. “I really miss it.”

In the meantime, David has built a home studio in their house so they can continue to do voice-over work.

David, who has appeared in TV dramas including The Three Musketeers and West End shows such as Mamma Mia!, is also hoping to teach acting and singing in Cork.

As a testament to the kind nature of the couple, they’re also thinking about how to give back. They want to organise musical theatre concerts to raise money for cancer charities in Ireland. “The move to Ireland couldn’t have come at a better time,” says David. “It’s so calm.”

Ali agrees, adding, “We’re new to the community but the kindness of strangers has been unbelievable. I feel really, really grateful. This feels like a special, healing place.”