Ex-Dragons’ Den star Kelly Hoppen reveals breast cancer battle and shares warning to fans
A FORMER Dragons' Den star has revealed her breast cancer battle while sharing a heartbreaking warning to her fans.
Kelly Hoppen admitted she was diagnosed with the disease after missing out on life-saving checks for years.
Interior designer and businesswoman Kelly, 63, best known for appearing on BBC Two's Dragons' Den, revealed her diagnosis.
The star admitted she missed her mammogram appointment for eight years running before her cancer was found.
She has cautioned her fans to ensure they go to their screening appointments, as she vowed never to miss one again.
Kelly admitted she lived in a state of "ignorance is bliss", and wrongly believed she had a reduced likelihood of the cancer.
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She upheld this belief despite her mum, now 87, developing cancer at the same age, and her dad dying from the disease at 48.
Kelly told the : "It was a foolish thing to do, which is why I am writing this now: it's a cautionary tale, a warning to others.
"[Do not] be too frightened, too harried by the demands of work to go to your appointments."
Kelly revealed how she went for a long overdue mammogram last September, encouraged by her temp PA called Phoebe.
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"Two hours later they recalled me telling me they needed one more image of my right breast," she said of the appointment.
The Dragons' Den star went on to have an ultrasound appointment, and a biopsy, before she was diagnosed with DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ).
While Kelly's diagnosis was mild in two of her milk ducts, she required surgery to remove the cancerous cells from her body.
The procedure was a "precautionary surgery to remove the tissue around the cancer and ensure it hadn't spread".
Following the "painful" surgery, Kelly went on to have a BRCA genetics test, which confirmed she did not have "an inherited tendency".
Kelly was given the all clear a month ago, but the star has now vowed never to skip a mammogram appointment again.
"My own foolishness stays with me," she concluded of the scar left behind from her surgery to remove the cancerous cells.