Jacquie Beltrao has opened up about her intense gratitude at being five years cancer-free in an exclusive interview and photoshoot. As she talks about feeling ‘very, very lucky’ as she celebrates her 60th birthday, the Sky News presenter – who has covered some of Britain’s biggest sporting events, revealed that at times, it was ‘hard not to plan my funeral’.
The broadcaster, who turns 60 on Monday 21 April, revealed emotionally, “My 60th birthday is a big celebration. In some ways turning 60 can fill you with dread, sometimes you feel people can look at you differently, but there were days I never thought I would make it to this point given the severity of my cancer. But here I am.”
She added: “I feel truly blessed and I was ready to have a big party to celebrate life. I have always been a very positive person, trying to find the right mindset to approach life, but almost exactly five years ago when I was told my cancer had spread, it was very hard not to start planning a funeral. But instead, I was planning a 60th birthday. It’s wonderful to be able to say that.”
Likeable, Dublin-born Jacquie, who was a gymnast in the 1984 Olympics and interviewing some of sport’s great stars, has been fighting cancer for the past 12 years – but five years on from discovering she had stage 4 breast cancer after the doctors found the disease had spread to her legs and spine, a pioneering drug called Olaparib – often taken by ovarian cancer sufferers – has meant she is fighting fit, been cancer-free for nearly half a decade and welcoming in her seventh decade in style.
Reflecting on how her former career as an elite gymnast – she represented Great Britain at the 1984 Olympics – has helped shape her mindset during her treatment for cancer, Jacquie says, “It has definitely helped me. You have this belief and drive when you compete in elite sport.
“I’m sure the fact that I know I was in a tiny fraction of people who were able to compete for their country at an Olympics gave me some belief that maybe I could be in the fraction of people who survive long after a cancer diagnosis that I got. But I can’t emphasise enough how lucky I feel.”
The journalist, who lives in South West London with her husband Eduardo for 12 years. has children, Amelia, 27, who is a newsreader on TalkSport radio, and sons Tiago, 24, a promotions and publicity executive, and Jorge, 23, an oil and shipping analyst.
It was in 2013 that Jacquie was first diagnosed with the disease after noticing a lump. A mastectomy and reconstruction followed and at one point she was told the chances of any cancer returning in the next five years were around three out of 100, but in 2020 – during the Covid lockdown – she found a tiny lump just below her collarbone, which she was soon told was the cacner, back and more aggressive than before. Doctors said it was stage 4 and that she would never be fully rid of it.
“It hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d always been positive in my outlook, looking for good news, good outcomes and then it became very hard to see them,” Jacquie recalls sadly. “I didn’t know where to turn. I would have some very dark thoughts. I remember looking up how long people live for from stage 4 cancer and it said a max of two years.”
Thankfully, thanks to a targeted therapy drug called Olaparib, Jacquie’s cancer is no longer visible on scans. “In June 2021, I had a scan and the doctor called me to say, ‘You have very, very good results.’ She told me there’s no evidence of the disease at all.
“I was stunned. She explained all of the tumours had gone on the scan, whereas eight weeks ago the cancer could be seen really prominently. She sent me over the scan and it was right, the evidence of cancer had gone. It was all down to this miracle drug. I remember telling Eduardo, the boys and Amelia and there was lots of hugging and crying, pure joy and relief.”
Since then, Jacquie, who still has regular check-ups, said, “I’ve had my life back, I feel very blessed. Obviously, I’m aware that it could come back at any point as I have lived through that experience. I take two tablets of the drug twice a day and although it might sound strange, every time I take them out of the packet I feel grateful.”
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