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Much-loved TV presenter Vanessa Feltz has opened up on the heartbreak of seeing her mum Valerie lose her battle to cancer when she was just 57 years old.
Though she has addressed her mother's passing publicly before, today the This Morning Agony Aunt is stating her belief that 'medical misogyny' allowed Valerie's cancer to be overlooked, due to a gender bias.
After seeking help for her ill-health back in 1995, Vanessa says Valerie was told that the diagnosis of endometrial cancer was too late, and that her beloved mum was "neither heard nor listened to".
Speaking on Talk TV last night, 3 August, the 61-year-old – who is set to take part in the upcoming series of Celebs Go Dating – urged all women to speak out if they feel that, in a medical capacity, they're not receiving proper attention from professionals and to always push for a diagnosis.
"It’s very difficult, this one because I think I should just say what happened with my own mother," she detailed. "My mother was suddenly getting the most tremendous abdominal pain but only sporadically and only sometimes and very unpredictably but it was incredibly painful when it happened.
"She went from doctor to doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist and they all pretty much did that pat her on the head thing saying, you know, "Are you neurotic? Are you looking for attention? Is it the menopause?'
"And it turned out to be endometrial cancer and she died at the age of 57. She died of it. It had spread so far that they couldn't really do anything much about it and she definitely was neither heard nor listened to, she really, really wasn’t."
Vanessa – who also on the show slammed inconsistent women's clothes sizes for affecting mental health – continued: 'I also know, though if a doctor says, "Oh run along, it’s nothing much, go to a picnic, eat a bit more, you’ll be fine, you’re just a bit dizzy, have a drink of water', there’s a part of you as the patient that’s relieved because obviously you don’t want to have anything serious.
"So when the doctor says it’s nothing to worry about, 'Don’t worry your pretty little head about it' you just think, 'Okay, good' don’t you?
"As her family, we, to some extent, thought, 'They say it’s nothing serious, good' rather than 'Push harder, push harder, and try and find out what it is, it must be something'.
"When you’re told by someone senior in the medical establishment, 'Don’t worry about it, you’re fine, just drink water, have a tranquiliser you’ll be great. Have a bubble bath,' you think, 'Thank god for that.' The urge to push further is not that great.'"
The TV star – who herself is mother to two daughters, as well as grandmother to two granddaughters and two grandsons – then gave her advice to other women who are considering rebuking medical advice they were given.
"Do talk up for yourself if this is happening to you," she told viewers. "Do say, 'Are you saying this to me because I’m a woman? Because I keep telling you what I’m going through and I don’t think you’re listening'. Say it like that.
"You don’t have to kick up a fuss or have a fight but just say it."
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