Michelle Heaton on double mastectomy: “I cried when my baby tried to latch on – I couldn’t breastfeed”

Michelle Heaton has opened up about the emotional moment her newborn baby tried to "latch on" and breastfeed after her double mastectomy

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by Kayleigh Dray |
Published on

Disney’s Celebrity Mum of the Year Michelle Heaton gave birth to her beautiful baby boy, Aaron Jay, two weeks ago - and her joy marks the end of an emotionally exhausting 18 months.

Michelle was diagnosed with the deadly BRCA2 cancer gene, forcing her to have both of her breasts removed.

And, when little Aaron Jay was delivered by caesarean just a few weeks ago, Michelle was reminded of just how much had changed for her.

Speaking with The Mirror, she said: “I stroked his face and burst into tears.

"In the recovery room afterwards I gave AJ his first bottle. I cried again when he tried to latch on.

"I couldn’t breastfeed because of my double mastectomy.”

Michelle Heaton, husband Andy and daughter Faith, 2
Michelle Heaton, husband Andy and daughter Faith, 2

Juggling her health battles with rejoining her Liberty X bandmates for the ITV2’s Big Reunion show, motherhood and pregnancy was never going to be easy, but by now Michelle is used to taking things in her stride.

“You just get on with it. I didn’t have time to mope around and feel sorry for myself. I had to carry on for Faith. Now I’m a mum my children come first, before my illness and before my career. They are my priority.

“Although the surgery will help to protect me, I do wonder what will happen if maybe I am ill one day and I have got two children to look after.

"How am I going to do it? But then I think, my mum did it with me and my brother. Some women do it with four children. They don’t have any help. So you think, if they can do it, I can too.”

Michelle Heaton and daughter Faith, 2

However brave Michelle, who definitely deserves to be Disney's Celebrity Mum Of The Year, has revealed that she is worried that her daughter Faith, 2, may have inherited the faulty cancer gene.

She says: “We’ll have to talk about it one day. She would find out eventually anyway, all she has to do is Google my name and she would find the articles.

“But I didn’t want it to be part of her life yet. That’s why I had the surgery while she was too young to know about it. I could have waited to have the operation, but I wanted to prevent Faith seeing me go through something like that.”

One final hurdle still lies ahead. Now the couple have completed their family Michelle plans to have her ovaries removed later this year to further reduce her risk of cancer.

Michelle Heaton and husband Andy

“It’s something that is there to do now, but I can’t think about it just yet.

"It’s all about Faith and AJ at the moment. They are the most important thing right now.”

We think Michelle Heaton is an amazing mum and we're so glad she was named Disney’s Celebrity Mum of the Year for 2014.

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