Kidman tells her pain watching mother battle cancer
Oscar winning actress Nicole Kidman has spoken of her pain watching her mother battle
breast cancer, as she launched Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
She kicked off the campaign, which is an annual event organised by the major breast cancer and cancer charities to increase awareness of the disease and raise funds for research.
Taking a day off from filming the cosmic thriller The Golden Compass in London, the 39-year-old spoke about her mother Janelle's fight with cancer.
When she was just 17, Nicole helped to nurse her mother, a nursery nurse, back to full health. She even took a massage course in order to help her rehabilitation.
The actress said in an interview with ITN news: "My mother had breast cancer and it was quite advanced breast cancer. She had chemotherapy and radio and is a survivor now. I want that to be heard."
Asked if the prospect of breast cancer frightened her, Kidman said: "I have seen my mother go through it. I think that has had an affect on me. I was in my late teens and that impact has imprinted on me in a way I will never forget."
She said her mother lives in fear of contracting the disease again.
"With my mother it's every year. Once it has affected your life you stay vigilant. You have to keep getting checked and your whole family gets affected by it eventually," she said.
"I have got a number of girlfriends that are battling it and they are in their early thirties. That's very frightening. Now it's not something that you say 'Oh it will only happen when you're old'. You really need to be aware at an early age."
