How death of Sarah Ferguson’s step-father Hector Barrantes inspired her cancer mission
The Duchess of York’s stoicism in the face of her breast cancer diagnosis will have warmed the hearts of her many fans.
It was announced on Sunday that she had undergone a mastectomy to treat the disease, which she opened up about on the latest episode of her podcast, Tea Talks with the Duchess & Sarah.
But, as well as being a current patient, Sarah has been actively involved with cancer charities for decades.
She said in her podcast how she began working with the prominent Teenage Cancer Trust after her step-father Hector Barrantes, whom she called a ‘wonderful man’, died from the disease in 1990.
The Duchess added that her experience of talking to ‘so many sufferers with cancer’ helped her to ‘glean from them certain tips’ to help her through her own struggle.
Sarah, who is now a patron of the TCT, began volunteering with the charity in the 1990s and has opened the majority of its new units since.
Her first such engagement came in November 1990, when the Duchess opened TCT’s first specialist cancer unit at the Middlesex Hospital in London.
Sarah said on her podcast how she began working with the prominent Teenage Cancer Trust after her step-father Hector Barrantes, whom she called a ‘wonderful man’, died from the disease in 1990. Above: The pair in 1988
The Duchess of York clasps a young boy’s hand as she says goodbye following her visit to a cancer ward in Bytom, Poland, June 7, 1995
Barrantes, an Argentine polo player who married Sarah’s mother Susan after she left her first husband Ronald, passed away just six months after being told he had cancer.
Speaking to her podcast co-host Sarah Thomson, the Duchess said: ‘I volunteered to work for the Teenage Cancer Trust… because my step father died of cancer. He was just a wonderful man, I adored him.
‘And he died at 50. And so I decided that I would focus a lot of my attention on… three different things.
Cancer struggle of the Duchess of York’s polo-player step-father
Hector Barrantes’s lymphatic cancer struggle came to light in February 1990, when he was flown to New York after having an emergency operation in Buenos Aires.
The Duchess flew to the U.S. to be with her stepfather and mother despite being eight months pregnant with Eugenie.
Hector then passed away aged 50 at the isolated cattle ranch he shared with Sarah’s mother.
The Duchess told in her podcast how Barrantes was a ‘wonderful man’ whom she ‘adored’.
Hector Barrantes with his wife Sarah Ferguson
‘One would be cancer and really working hard for action research, and to really get research into cancer and how people deal with it.’
She said the experience of opening the Middlesex Hospital unit made her realise that teenagers ‘didn’t have a voice’.
‘The doctors and scientists were looking at grown-up cancer, they were looking at paediatric cancer, but no one was listening to the voice of a teenager, and that is serious.
‘I’ve been their ambassador ever since.’
She added: ‘I’m so grateful I’ve talked to so many sufferers with cancer that I can glean from them certain tips that can help me through this moment.’
Sarah previously told Hello!: ‘Every time I meet one of these young people with cancer, it reminds me how lucky I and my family are.
‘These young people demonstrate such strength that I never fail to find inspiring.’
The Duchess then ensured her daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie got involved, telling how they spent their respective 18th birthdays at teenage cancer units.
‘So that they could see that they’ve got so much to give and they could really help,’ she said.
‘You lead by example, I believe… They’ve since become ambassadors for life and they work tirelessly,’ Fergie said.
In July 2022, the three royal women virtually opened a new blood cancer ward at University College London Hospital, supported by the TCT.
During the call, Beatrice recalled the impact meeting cancer patients has had on her life.
She said: ‘On my 18th birthday I got to come down to the ward and meet some of the young people.
‘I think when you’re a young person yourself, it changed for me the trajectory of what it is to be in service.’
The royals were joined on the call by young people affected by cancer.
Both princesses and their mother became visibly upset during the conversation and were seen wiping away tears and forming hearts with their hands to send love to others on the call.
Barrantes, an Argentine polo player who married Sarah’s mother Susan after she left her first husband Ronald, passed away just six months after being told he had cancer. Above: The couple at their farm in Argentina
Sarah said in the podcast: ‘I volunteered to work for the Teenage Cancer Trust… because my step father died of cancer. He was just a wonderful man, I adored him.’ Above: The pair at a Polo match in 1988
The Daily Mail’s report on Hector Barrantes’ cancer diagnosis in 1988
The Duchess of York sits with patient Ben Essex, a patient in the teenage cancer unit at the Middlesex Hospital, November 1990
Eighteen-year-old cancer patient Shelley Brockhurst pictured in May 2001 in Manchester being helped by Fergie to put on a bandana specially created for the Teenage Cancer Trust
Speaking on her podcast Tea Talks with the Duchess & Sarah, Sarah Ferguson detailed how she has been actively involved with the Teenage Cancer Trust for over three decades. Pictured: The Duchess launching the Bandana ’03 campaign to benefit the TCT in May 2003 in London
Princess Eugenie, The Duchess of York, Joe McElderry and Princess Beatrice attending the opening of the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit at the Great North Children’s Hospital on May 19, 2010 in Newcastle upon Tyne
Sarah and her daughter Princess Eugenie walking together during a visit to the new Teenage Cancer Unit at St James’ Hospital on October 23, 2008 in Leeds
The Duchess with her oldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, during their visit to the Teenage Cancer unit at University College Hospital, central London, on July 11, 2006
Duchess of York smiled as seven-year-old cancer patient Crystal Gonzales peered over a table during a visit the British royal made to the Childrens’ Hospital in Los Angeles in 2001
The Duchess of York comforted six-year-old cancer patient Brian Macias at the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles in November 2005
Speaking about their legacy continuing, Beatrice added how her two-year-old daughter Sienna is ‘already a lifelong patron’ because of her grandmother’s influence.
In another video call to mark the 30th anniversary of the Teenage Cancer Trust in December 2020, Eugenie praised her mother for teaching ‘us how to give back to people’ and inspiring them to become involved with the charity.
Eugenie was moved to tears as she told her mother: ‘We’re very honoured to be here, but we wouldn’t be here unless you had educated us in how we give back to people.’
As well as her work with the TCT, the Duchess of York also visited sick children in Poland in 1992 to deliver toys and medical equipment to those being treated in Katowice.
Touching on how her volunteer work is now benefitting her following her diagnosis, Sarah said; ‘I’ve talked to so many sufferers with cancer, that I can glean from them certain tips that can help me through this moment,
‘I’m taking this as a real gift to change my life. To nurture myself, to stop trying to fix everything else. I think ‘are you going to take yourself seriously now Sarah?”
Sarah added that her father Ronald, also who suffered from prostate cancer during the last decade of his life, ‘went on the radio and told people to get checked’ after his diagnosis, only to be hit with a horrible response.
Major Ronald Ferguson (pictured), the Duchess’ father, suffered from prostate cancer during the last decade of his life
The Duchess of York speaks to a a young cancer patient and his mother during a 1987 hospital visit
The Duchess of York speaks to a young cancer patient during a hospital visit in 1987
The Duchess of York gave cancer patient Irving Putterman a kiss in return for a rose he presented her during her visit to New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center in February 1994
‘He said ‘It doesn’t matter if you see it feel fine. Cancer can be so silent, go get screened, go get checked. Don’t wait.’
‘Most of his friends rang him up and said ‘no one wants to hear from you Ronald”. she said.
‘But we’re taping the podcast today, and tomorrow I’m going for a single mastectomy.
‘It’s very important that we speak about it, when it airs, I’ll have been through this’ the Duchess added.
She said: ‘I don’t mind if no one wants to hear from me, because I’m telling you that I am doing this.
‘I want every person who is listening to this Podcast to get checked.’
The mother of two added: ‘I’m going to get fit, I’m going to understand it. I’m going to be super fit, super strong, really understand what caused this and look at it straight on’.
‘I love joy, and this is my chance. I can’t make another excuse, I have to go through this operation and be strong and fit.’
The mother of two with Anglea Hartgen and her daughter Stacey at the teenage cancer unit, Middlesex Hospital, in March 1999
The Duchess of York with young cancer patients in the newly opened cancer unit at a Birmingham hospital on June 13, 2000
Sarah and Beatrice posed for a photo with Victoria Stokes when they visited the Teenage Cancer unit at University College Hospital, central London, on July 11, 2006
The Duchess added that her check-up was on a ‘hot day’ and that she didn’t want to ‘travel to London from Windsor’ for the appointment.
She went to the Royal Free Hospital in north London for her test, which involved injecting dye into her body so doctors could spot the cancer.
The Duchess said she is ‘hugely thankful’ to hospital staff involved in the mammogram which detected her cancer and believes her experience ‘underlines the importance of regular screening’.
After undergoing surgery at the private King Edward VII hospital in Marylebone, which is regularly used by the Royal Family, she has been told her prognosis is good and she is recuperating at Windsor with her family.