Sarah Ferguson almost missed appointment that led to cancer diagnosis

Sarah Ferguson almost missed the routine appointment that led to her breast cancer diagnosis.

On Sunday, a spokesperson for the Duchess of York announced the royal had been diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer following a routine mammogram procedure and was recovering from surgery.

In an episode of her podcast Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah, which was recorded on the day before the operation, the 63-year-old shared that she was undergoing a single mastectomy and that she almost didn't go to the appointment that led to her diagnosis.

"It was after a bank holiday, and I live in this area - in the Windsor area - and it was a hot day, and I didn't feel like going to London. It's easy to put it off - 'I'll do it next week,'" Sarah recalled.

Explaining that her "wonderful" sister Jane Ferguson Luedecke convinced her to go, she continued, "I always normally do what she says because she gets so cranky. She said, 'No, go. I need you to go. I need you to go.'"

During the mammogram appointment, her doctor noticed a shadow indicating cancerous cells.

"If I hadn't done that, it was only a shadow, they wouldn't have found out that it needs to be immediately sorted," she stated. "I am telling people out there because I want every single person that is listening to this podcast to go get checked. Go get screened. Go do it."

Elsewhere in the episode, Sarah compared her experience to her late father Ronald Ferguson's battle with prostate cancer and recalled how he urged radio listeners to get themselves checked out.

She concluded, "Don't say it's not going to happen to you. Doesn't matter if you feel fine. Cancer can be so silent. Such a silent little hiding thing which hides in the cells."