On Mix 102.3’s Max and Ali in the Morning today, host Ali Clarke told listeners that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will take a break from radio to undergo a mastectomy later this week.
Clarke said:
“It was important to tell our listeners because I have had the privilege of them trusting me with their stories and so I trust them with mine. I wanted them to hear it from me, in my words and give them a chance to ask anything they want.
“I also know that so many of our listeners have either lived through having cancer or know someone who has … even worse there will be lots of people who might have listened this morning or are reading this who have lost someone they love to this awful freaking disease. Over the last few weeks, I’ve thought of their loss a lot.”
And that she did on air with co-host Max Burford, and afterwards, on a very emotional morning saying:
“I thought it was very small and manageable. But we found quite a lot of small little cancers. And so that means that I’ll be going in for some pretty big surgery later this week, and I’ll have to take some time off to recover as you can imagine.
Let me be clear, I do have the good end of the stick. We all know someone who has had a battle with cancer. The long and the short of it means that I am going to have a full mastectomy. Which if you’re playing at home that means they’re taking one of my boobs. And if I’m truly honest, it’s probably been that bit that’s been much more confronting than I ever thought it will be.”
I know that this is what needs to happen to make me good.”
Ali has been with Mix since the start of 2022, after five years with ABC Radio Adelaide.