Trisha Goddard 'recovering well' after breast cancer operation

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TV host Trisha Goddard, is recovering well in hospital following an operation to remove lymph nodes on Tuesday evening.

The 51-year-old presenter has been receiving treatment for breast cancer after a lump was discovered during a routine mammogram three weeks ago.

Her husband, Peter Gianfrancesco, and daughters Billie, 18, and Madison, 13, have visited Trisha in hospital and Peter expects her to return home soon.

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Recovering: Trisha Goodard is resting in hospital after having lymph nodes removed

Peter said today: "Trisha had a second operation to remove the lymph nodes under her left arm yesterday. She is recovering well and is very appreciative of all the support she has received. We all remain optimistic about the next phase of her recovery but are taking things one step at a time."

After it was discovered that Trisha had a tumour, she had immediate surgery to remove it.

But tests on samples of lymph nodes - glands under the arms - taken at the same time showed a trace, indicating the disease had spread.

It had been the latest blow to a woman who has suffered personal tragedies including the suicide of her youngest sister and the break-up of two marriages.

But business associates said she was continuing with her work and was strong enough to beat the disease.

Speaking prior to Tuesday's surgery, Peter said: "She may possibly need, or choose to have, chemotherapy. We are both stressed and exhausted from the worry, but are trying to deal with this one step at a time.

"We ask that everyone respects our privacy during this difficult time, allowing us to focus on supporting my wife's recovery."

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On hold: Filming on Trisha's Channel 5 chat show has been postponed until she has recovered

Miss Goddard's business partner Malcolm Allsop said he was confident that she would beat the disease.

"When she had her last medical last year the doctor said she had the fitness level of an endurance athlete," he said.

"She is strong and will come through this. Trisha does not want to feel like a sick person. Indeed, she went straight back to work after the first operation and four days after leaving hospital was at a lunch with Madame Sarkozy and Sarah Brown.

"Trisha plans to return to the studio at the end of the month. Fortunately the shows are recorded several weeks in advance, so she is hoping that transmission will not be interrupted."

Miss Goddard first made a name for herself in Australia where she became the country's first black woman news presenter.

But although her professional career has gone from strength to strength, her private life has been blighted. Her youngest sister Linda, a schizophrenic, killed herself in 1998.

Miss Goddard's first husband, Australian politician Robert Nestdale, died of Aids. Their marriage lasted only three months, and following their break-up she learned he was gay.

Her second marriage, to TV producer Mark Grieve, ended when she learned he had been having an affair while she was pregnant with their second child.

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Blighted: Trisha Goddard, pictured in 2000 with daughters Billie, left, and Madison, right, has vowed to conquer the disease

The discovery drove her to a nervous breakdown. She said she was "suicidal" and spent weeks in a psychiatric hospital.

She had therapy and was on anti-depressants - but weaned herself off them before she launched her TV career in Britain in 1998.

She has been happily married to Mr Gianfrancesco for ten years. Around 41,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. One in nine women develops the disease in their lifetime.

If the cancer is caught at the early stages, survival rates can be as high as 89 per cent.

If it has spread to the lymph nodes, that figure reduces to between 70 and 78 per cent.

 

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