“I planned my Own Fun3ral” – Jacquie Beltrao opens up about stage 4 canc3r that Br0ke viewers’ Hearts!

Sky News sports presenter Jacquie Beltrao has opened up about surviving breast cnc3r – despite planning her funeral just a few years ago.

The radiant mother-of-three, who represented Great Britain in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1984 Olympics, told OK magazine that she feels ‘very lucky’ to celebrate her 60th tomorrow, but ‘never’ thought she’d live to mark the milestone birthday.

The Dublin-born Sky Sports presenter was diagnosed with breast cnc3r on Christmas Eve in 2013; she received the all clear before receiving the devastating news seven years later that it had returned once more.

This time doctors told her the cnc3r had reached stage four, and that it had spread to her spine and legs, leaving her fearing she had just months to live.

It was at that moment that Jacquie began preparations for her own funeral, she says – until she was prescribed olaparib, which was previously used for ovarian cnc3r, which she credits with saving her life.

She told OK Magazine: ‘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 cnc3r had spread, it was very hard not to start planning a funeral’.

Jacquie lives with her husband Eduardo Beltrao and their three children, Amelia, Tiago, and Jorge in South West London, but at one point in her life she says she recalled having ‘some very dark th0ughts’.

She said after her second diagnosis, she began researching stage 4 breast cnc3r and was shocked to discover that some people had just two years to live.

+6
View gallery

Sky News sports presenter Jacquie Beltrao has opened up about surviving breast cnc3r despite planning her funeral just a few years ago (Jacquie seen in 2022 in London)

She also revealed how turning 60 compounded her ‘dread’ as she feared ageing and how society would view her new age.

‘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 cnc3r. But here I am’.

In addition to marking her seventh decade, Jacquie is also celebrating five years of being cnc3r free, a feat she ascribes to a ‘hero’ science professor and a wonder drug called olaparib.

In June 2023, while speaking to fellow Sky presenter Anna Jones, she recalled how the drug saved her life.

‘It does work for a lot of people, but it works in varying degrees’ she said.

‘I’m one of the people where it’s worked 100 per cent. It won’t work forever. You have to have that in the back of my mind.

‘It’s not a permanent fix. It’s so new they don’t even know how long it will work for, but anyway I’ll take it’.

And referring to scientist Andrew Tutt, she added: ‘Who would do the sport this morning if it wasn’t for him?’

+6
View gallery

The Dublin-born star she feels ‘very lucky’ to celebrate her 60th on April 21, but ‘never’ thought she’d live to mark the milestone birthday. (Jacquie is seen celebrating the all-clear after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cnc3r in 2020)

+6
View gallery

Jacquie revealed in June 2020 that she was facing a second battle with breast cnc3r after doctors first told her she had the disease in 2013

She told Anna that she hugged Professor Andrew and told him ‘you are a hero’, which left Anna visibly moved.

Olaparib, also known as Lynparza, is a targeted drug used for a number of cnc3rs for people who have a change in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.

The drug is a PARP inhibitor, with PARP being a protein that helps damaged cells to repair themselves. Olaparib stops PARP from working.

Some cnc3r cells use PARP to keep their DNA healthy, so when olaparib stops PARP from repairing DNA damage, the cnc3r cells di3.

Jacquie revealed in June 2020 that she was facing a second battle with breast cnc3r after doctors first told her she had the disease in 2013, when she was 48.

Jacquie said she found a new ‘tiny’ lump during lockdown 2020 and began chemotherapy soon after.

Jacquie admitted in July 2021 that it had been a ‘living nightmare’ since her grade three diagnosis at the time.

After she was first diagnosed with breast cnc3r in 2013 for which she went through five cycles of chemotherapy in four months.

She said in a social media video at the time: ‘So, during lockdown I took my own advice, did a check, found a tiny, tiny, little lump just here.

+6
View gallery

Jacquie has opened up about having ‘some very dark th0ughts’ during her battle with breast cnc3r (Pictured in London in 2023)

+6
View gallery

Jacquie represented Great Britain in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1984 Olympics; seen here age 19

‘Had it checked out and a biopsy straight away and it turns out it’s grade three breast cnc3r, much nastier than the first one I had.

‘I’m sharing this because it felt weird to be going back to work on Sky and being on social media and acting like everything was shiny, perfect and fun when it wasn’t.’

In 2020, Jacquie told Hello! magazine she ‘didn’t realise’ breast cnc3r could return. ‘Facing it again felt like a kick in the stomach,’ she added.

‘When I was told it was incurable, I burst into tears and thought, “That’s it, I’m going to di3”.

‘I felt so sad that I’d never go to my daughter’s wedding, see my sons graduate, or become a grandma.’

In July 2021 Jacquie said she felt ‘unbelievable’ after being told there was ‘no evidence’ of her cnc3r following a scan.

+6
View gallery

In June 2023, while speaking to fellow Sky News presenter Anna Jones, Jacquie recalled how miracle drug, olaparib, saved her life

She celebrated receiving a clear scan amid her stage 4 breast cnc3r battle, and rejoiced: ‘I’m living proof anything is possible.’

‘I had feared the worst and had times when I’d hear a piece of music and think, “That’ll be good for my funeral.”

‘There were dark days, so to be told there is no evidence of cnc3r now is unbelievable.

‘I was expecting bad news or, at best, that my aggressive cnc3r hadn’t got worse. But to be told there is no evidence of it now is beyond my wildest dreams.’

She added that she had thought she had only had two years left to live but now she can ‘enjoy life again’, before adding that she is ‘living proof that anything is possible’.

Breast cnc3r comes from a cnc3rous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.

When the breast cnc3r has spread into surrounding tissue it is called ‘invasive’. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cnc3r cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.

Most cases develop in those over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cnc3r can develop in men, though this is rare.

Staging indicates how big the cnc3r is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cnc3r has spread to another part of the body.

The cnc3rous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast-growing. High-grade cnc3rs are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.