There was no evidence of breast cancer in my family, but then, it is only in the past generation that we have all become so much more open about talking about these things. It used to be something that you would keep quiet about. Talk about having cancer, and you would lose your job. Or your fiancé, if it looked like you were not good breeding stock.

This ability to screen embryos for the BRCA genes sounds wonderful and I do think prevention is the best way to go. I found out I had second-stage breast cancer in 2002 and underwent a mastectomy, followed by a course of chemotherapy, which caused all my hair to fall out. In 2004 I had a second mastectomy after a suspicious condition was found in the other breast. I did it for the sake of my daughter Tatiana, because the surgeon advised that it would reduce the chance of breast cancer returning to almost nothing.

When I was first diagnosed I remember being shocked to find that only 2 per cent of the money raised globally for curing cancer is spent on prevention. Personally, I go for noninvasive methods of prevention but then I'm not a chemical sort of girl.

But for those people who do want to do IVF and are keen on scientific modification, whether it's for foods or surgery, fair enough. I'm timid, but for people who aren't so timid then yes, of course, it's a great idea. If I were of a scientific background rather than a spiritual background and if there was a high percentage of breast cancer in my family and if they could isolate or remove the gene that carries it, then it's a very good idea. I have a daughter. If I was in the position that this woman was in, and was desperate to have a child and had an opportunity to spare her from the ordeal that I'd gone through with cancer, and the doctor said, ‘We could do this ...' then of course I would have done the same, why not? Cancer isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy, let alone my daughter.

And when my daughter grows up, if she wants to go down that route of genetic screening, I wouldn't have a problem with it. It boils down to what you believe in.

Medicine isn't the science of medicine', it's an art form. And yet, when the time came for me to choose how and where I would be treated for breast cancer, as much as I lean towards the esoteric and alternative path, I went high-tailing it back to the States to get what was statistically the best chance of survival through the best allopathic treatment available.

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