Strictly winner Kara Tointon has double mastectomy after cancer gene test
Kara Tointon, the actress and former Strictly Come Dancing winner, has revealed she had a double mastectomy following a test for cancer genes.
The 41-year-old former star of EastEnders, also known for her work in dramas including The Teacher and Mr Selfridge, discovered she has the BRCA gene, which can put carriers at a very high risk of cancer.
On Wednesday, Tointon posted an Instagram video to raise awareness of the preventative measures she had taken.
Working in collaboration with the Eve Appeal, a gynaecological cancer charity for which she is an ambassador, she told her followers: 'You may have heard of the BRCA genes 1 and 2. As a carrier, it means I am at a greater risk of both breast and ovarian cancer.
'Back in 2018, when my mum was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer, I was asked to take a genetics test. There is a history of both cancers in my family on my mother's side, but for various reasons, we hadn't looked into it until that point.
'But it was put to us, we took the test, and it was confirmed that my mum and I both carried the gene.'
The actress, who won Strictly with professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev in 2010, announced the death of her mother, Carol, in 2019.
Tointon, a mother of two, explained on the Instagram video: 'I was pregnant with my first child at the time [of the test], knew I wanted more children if possible, so over the next couple of years I was invited to various meetings by the NHS, to really become informed and to understand all my options.
'Last year, having had my second son in 2021 and deciding that our family was complete, I underwent two preventative surgeries, the first a double mastectomy and the second a two-part protector study, a trial.
'They believe that ovarian cancer begins in the fallopian tubes so, by removing them first, checking them out, you then remove the ovaries later, closer to menopause.
'We are finding out more and more about personal genetics and many people find that regular surveillance suits them very well, but for me, having done that for a few years, MRIs finding things, biopsies, waiting for results, I decided that this was the right decision for me and my family.
'It wasn't an easy decision, but one I'm very glad and lucky I made, and I can now, with hindsight, talk about it properly.'
Angelina Jolie, the Hollywood actress, underwent a double mastectomy in 2013 at the age of 37 after she discovered she carried the BRCA1 gene following her mother's death from ovarian cancer. She also spoke publicly about her treatment to raise awareness.
Around one in 1,000 women across the UK have a BRCA1 variant, but most breast and ovarian cancers happen because of chance damage to genes.
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