Below Deck Mediterranean star Captain Sandy Yawn has been reflecting on her cancer diagnosis.

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, Sandy explained that doctors discovered she had kidney cancer after being admitted to hospital following a serious bike accident a number of years ago. She subsequently had surgery and now has yearly check-ups to ensure there are no further signs of cancer.

“I was on my way to the Miami Boat Show doing about 70 mph,” she told hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby of the accident.

“And a car pulled in front of me, and I T-boned the car, and as I was flipping in the air, I felt my mother’s presence, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to go to heaven and see my mom’.”

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She added: “Then I landed on the pavement, and I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I was grateful I could move.”

Sandy then said she was then transported to the hospital, where doctors found out she had stage 2 kidney cancer.

Schofield then said: “So if you hadn’t hit that car, and that car hadn’t hit you, it wouldn’t have been discovered, and life could be very very different.”

“That’s right,” she replied.

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Speaking to Women’s Health in 2017, she said: “Who would have ever thought they would be grateful for being in a motorcycle crash? But I was.

“As the doctor explained, it might have been years until that tumor was found. At that point, the cancer would have progressed, and it would have been too late.”

Captain Sandy has starred on the Bravo spin-off Below Deck Mediterranean since 2017. The series follows the lives of the crew members who work aboard a superyacht across a different Mediterranean country each season.

Yawn joined the spin-off on its second instalment, taking over from Captain Mark Howard. A seventh season is set in Malta and is due to premiere later in the year, with Yawn once again helming the crew.

All seasons of Below Deck are available to watch on hayu.