Sarah Ferguson has named her reconstructed breast ‘Derek’, after undergoing a mastectomy for breast cancer.
The 63-year-old former wife of Prince Andrew was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and underwent an eight-hour operation in London’s King Edward VII’s Hospital in June but Sarah is trying to remain upbeat despite her health struggles.
Speaking on her podcast ‘Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah’, she told co-host Sarah Thomson, she is “just coming to terms with my new best friend Derek”.
She said: “On my left, he’s called Derek… and he’s very important because he saved my life.”
When asked why she chose the name Derek, she said: “I don’t know, it just made me laugh that I now have a friend who’s with me all the time who’s protecting with his shield of armour.”
Sarah also revealed her other breast is called Eric.
She said: “Poor Eric on the right is feeling rather sad because he’s not as perky as Derek on the left, but I’ll get Eric balanced, don’t worry.”
While Sarah is recovering, she explained she is “balancing the fact that [she’s] got a new model at the moment”.
She added: “I’ve gotten new wheels and a new engine and I’ll be taking the car for a bit of a run soon!”
Sarah was diagnosed in May after a shadow was spotted in her breast during a mammogram.
A source told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: “Most people usually associate breast cancer with a lump but that’s not always the case.
“A lump can be detected by the patient, but this was a ‘shadow’, which can go undetected because it’s a wider spread of cancerous cells that can be picked up through screening.
“In Sarah’s case, a biopsy was taken from the shadowy area of tissue and a few days later the results came back to confirm the diagnosis – breast cancer.”