Christina Applegate Eliminates Cancer with Double Mastectomy
August 19, 2008 by Chandra
I have so much admiration for Samantha Who? star Christina Applegate.
As posted earlier this month, the 36-year-old actress was recently diagnosed with cancer in one breast. Since she has a family history of the problem — her mother Nancy Priddy had breast cancer twice — as well as the gene BRCA1 that predisposes her to it, Christina decided to undergo a bilateral mastectomy, which has already been performed.
According to her discussion with Good Morning America interviewer and fellow breast-cancer survivor Robin Roberts this morning, Christina no longer has to live with the fear of a recurrence or the discomfort of chemotherapy and regular mammograms (the second of which hurt like hell for many women).
She clarified, “I didn’t want to go back to the doctors every four months for testing and squishing and everything. I just wanted to kind of be rid of this whole thing for me. This was the choice that I made, and it was a tough one.”
What a good thing that Christina has also opted to share this decision with her fans and the world to let them know that different people battle cancer in different ways. Whether you disagree with her approach or not, you’ve still got to respect her choice.
Read more about Christina’s appearance on the daytime news show at People.com and view a short video clip of the interview, too.
My heart goes out to Christina. I am one of those worried about her due to what we think we know about her type of cancer so far. BRCA1 usually means invasive, aggressive and basal-like tumors. It usually means triple negative tumors. Not always, but usually. If this is true of Christina, she is taking a huge chance with her life. Nobody can predict the future, but based on what we know now, survival of this type of cancer depends on the cancer NEVER returning. Once it comes back, recurs, shows up in other parts of the body - the rest of your life will be spent fighting it, and then you will die from it. I wish that I was wrong about this, but that is my understanding. The only test for whether chemotherapy treatment was really necessary at all would be to not take it, and then wait. If your cancer comes back within six months to five years - you needed it. If your cancer never returns - you didn’t need it. And by the way, once it does come back, you’ll be taking that chemotherapy you refused the first time around, only this time, it will be too late. I am sorry for the harshness of words, but ignorance kills and I am so afraid to see the headline that Christina’s cancer has returned despite her double mastectomy, because I know what that would mean.