Maxine gives a candid account of her cancer journey(Image: S4C)

When Welcome to Wrexham star Maxine Hughes was told she had breast cancer, she initially hid her diagnosis. Later, she as she became more open about it, she began delving deep into the reality of cancer care in Wales. She says her findings, to be aired in an S4C documentary next week, were deeply troubling.

In late 2024, life took a sharp turn when the mum-of-two discovered a lump on her chest. As she was living in the US, and had insurance, the treatment pathway was prompt and effective. It needed to be: Maxine, now 46, was diagnosed with triple‑negative breast cancer, an aggressive form that not so long ago was untreatable.

Endless rounds of chemotherapy were followed by a double mastectomy. Maxine, originally from Conwy town, insisted a TV crew film the procedure, wanting to be brutally honest about her cancer journey.

While undergoing months of post-op immunotherapy, and embarking on chest reconstruction, the broadcaster began investigating the state of cancer care in Wales. Though Maxine had become familiar to a global audience, through her TV work with Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, her journalistic lens remained focused on the country of her birth.

What she found left her deeply concerned. “I often wonder if I’d found the lump when in Wales, whether the outcome would be the same as I experienced in the States,” she said. “I can’t say definitively, as the two systems are so different.” In her documentary, she’s more blunt. “I’d be dead if my treatment had been in Wales,” she concludes.

The Welsh Government accepts more needs to be done to prevent cancer. It said tens of millions of pounds are being invested in new cancer facilities to improve outcomes. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox

Maxine first arrived in the US on a football scholarship – she’s a former judo and acrobatics international. She moved back across the Atlantic before settling in Washington DC full-time and is now married to Sally Ayhan. The couple have two boys, Iori and Manu.

As soon as she was diagnosed, Maxine ordered a wig(Image: S4C)

It was during a Christmas trip to Australia, visiting her wife’s family, that she found a lump on her chest. She was shocked – more so as she’d had a clear mammogram the previous October and “checked all the time”. Just a few days earlier she’d received the heartbreaking news her dad John had died, aged 80.