A leading expert believes that the liver cancer contracted by former British tennis player Elena Baltacha may be connected to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Baltacha, 30, was born in Ukraine but grew up in Scotland. She announced on Friday that she was diagnosed with the condition.
Cancer specialist Professor Karol Sikora told Express that Baltacha’s long-running problems with her liver may be connected to the aforementioned event in Ukraine.
“Exposure to radiation increases the risk of the malignancies. She has said she has an auto-immune liver condition, sclerosing cholangitis,” Sikora said.
Baltacha was born in Kiev in 1983, at that time her father was a football player for Dynamo Kiev.
“This, along with the increased exposure to radiation, may have caused liver cancer to develop.”
“It may well have caused Elena’s cancer and exposure to the fallout has affected many.”
“Liver cancer is one of the toughest to beat as only 20 per cent of its victims live for a year after diagnosis.
Baltacha has said in a statement that she’s currently undergoing treatment for the condition.
“I’m undergoing treatment and fighting this illness with everything I have.”
