“When you're young and pregnant, you don't imagine cancer at all”: the moving testimony of journalist Virgilia Hess

At 32 years old and six months pregnant, Virgilia Hess, a weather reporter at BFM, learned that she had breast cancer. In her book “My pregnancy saved my life”, she tells how she got through this ordeal, with the support of her loved ones.

“I was really in my peaceful bubble of a pregnant woman, on my little cloud, we were preparing for the arrival of the baby, and during a classic pregnancy exam my obstetrician had this reflex that saved me from feeling myself (my breasts)”. On the set of BFM, Friday October 4, 2024, Virgilia Hess, weather journalist for the same channel, tells how she went through the ordeal of breast cancer. An interview given following the publication of her book, My pregnancy saved my life, published on September 25 by Leduc.

During this examination, a "ball&quot is detected in her chest and the diagnosis is made, after a series of tests. "When you are young and pregnant, you don't imagine cancer at all", emphasizes the journalist.

"I couldn't take care of myself"

Virgilia Hess underwent chemotherapy for a year and a half. Today, she says she is doing “very well” and “enjoying life” with her daughter Léna Rose. The young mother must now undergo hormone therapy for four years.

The support of her loved ones has been extremely important. Tired of childbirth, very heavy treatments, a little baby to take care of, “I couldn't even take care of myself”, she confided on BFM.

According to Public Health France, with nearly 60,000 new cases and 12,000 deaths per year, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in France and the leading cause of death from cancer.

“You need to have your breast"

If there is a national screening program for women over 50, Virgilia Hess calls for having "your breasts checked" by younger health professionals.

"From the moment you have breasts, you have to have them checked", she insisted on BFM. "I am the proof, I was 32, I was pregnant, so it can happen to anyone, at any time of life, at any age”.