Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury has revealed the heart-breaking news that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is set to have her left breast removed.

The 51-year-old broadcaster revealed she will have a mastectomy next month to remove a six centimetre tumour.

But Julia is keeping a positive outlook on the situation.

She said: "As it is I am going to lose my breast. I trust that one day I will look down on it and think that was the fight of my life and I have the ultimate battle scar to prove it."

The Mirror reports that the news came following a mammogram she booked in July on an annual recall after last year found a lump which proved to be a cluster of benign micro-cysts.

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Surgeons will also take tissue from the mum of three's lymph nodes to establish whether the disease has spread to other parts of her body.

She told her children Zeph, ten, and twins Zena and Xanthe, six, about the heart-breaking diagnosis last week.

The tumour has been described as "sizeable", doctors believe the cancer cells have not yet spread to the breast tissue, meaning she may not need chemotherapy.

Julia Bradbury in South Africa
Julia Bradbury in South Africa

She told the Mail on Sunday the disease was 'arbitrary and unfair' but she hoped to have caught hers early enough.

Ms Bradbury said she was sticking to the positives: "It is quite good on the scale on cancers. But as with all tumours, until you are in there you never know.

The Countryfile presenter urged other women to regularly check themselves for breast cancer and not to be afraid to seek help.

"We must, must, must check ourselves and seek help," she said.

"Being scared of a diagnosis could be the thing which kills you. So learn what to look for and check, check, check.

"Doctors are experts but only you can press a lump, know how it feels and think you should do something about it."

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK, the NHS website states.

Most women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 50, but younger women can also get the deadly disease.

About 1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. but there's a good chance of recovery if it's detected at an early stage.

For more information visit the NHS website here.