{"id":68269,"date":"2023-10-24T18:40:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T18:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rapidcelnews.com\/?p=68269"},"modified":"2023-10-24T18:40:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T18:40:04","slug":"itvs-this-mornings-deidre-sanders-spent-first-birthday-in-55-years-alone-after-husbands-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rapidcelnews.com\/tv-movies\/itvs-this-mornings-deidre-sanders-spent-first-birthday-in-55-years-alone-after-husbands-death\/","title":{"rendered":"ITVs This Mornings Deidre Sanders spent first birthday in 55 years alone after husbands death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deidre Sanders has revealed she spent her birthday alone for the first time in 55 years this year after her husband, Rick, passed away last winter.<\/p>\n

The This Morning Agony Aunt, 78, celebrated her birthday on 9 June, but has now shared that is far from the happy occasion it previously had been.<\/p>\n

Deidre opened up about grief on Tuesday's This Morning when a caller asked for advice on coping with the death of her partner.<\/p>\n

Sharing her own grief, Deidre said: "I really sympathise Leanne. You probably know my husband died at the end of last year so I had to face my first birthday by myself this summer.<\/p>\n

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"I sort of caught myself by surprise really. I did have some friends coming round but it was the first year in 55 years I'd had to open my presents by myself and I was completely blasted by it. I couldn't cope at all. <\/p>\n

"So my advice would be – reach out. I know you may think 'I just want to look after my feelings by myself' but I don't think that's the way."<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Deirdre shared the sad news of her husband's death, revealing that he had passed away just a few days after she was told she had made the 2023 New Year Honours list.<\/p>\n

Appearing on This Morning to discuss her MBE news back in January, Deirdre said: "A special thing for me was, a lot of you know my husband died just before Christmas on December 16th.<\/p>\n

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"But this call came through about a week before he died so that was really special for me. I could share it with him and say what had happened.<\/p>\n

"I was with Rick for 55 years, so that was really great. He was always a great tease so he had to get in a few digs first."<\/p>\n

It's been a difficult year for the agony aunt who revealed in September 2022 that she had been diagnosed with "high grade" breast cancer.<\/p>\n

Sharing the scary news last year, Deidre revealed she has "a teeny, tiny \u00adcarcinoma" \u2013 a cluster of malignant cells in a duct \u2013 in her right breast, and that it has been labelled as "high grade".<\/p>\n

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Following her diagnosis it came to light that Deidre had been "among a cohort of several thousand women who, by error, did not get invited for a mammogram when they turned 70".<\/p>\n

While she was offered the service a couple of years later, the well-known agony aunt turned it down, dubbing herself as "too old" to need it.<\/p>\n

And after receiving her diagnosis Deidre began calling on women to go to their mammogram appointments and for women over 70 to use their right to request a screening every three years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n