January 12, 2024
CNN’s Sara Sidner Reveals Stage 3 Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Pleads With Women To Get Mammograms
We're rooting for you, Sara!
The world got a shock when CNN anchor Sara Sidner revealed her battle with stage 3 breast cancer live on thje air, CBS News reports.
During an episode of CNN News Central on Jan. 8, Sidner, 51, ended her show with both a heartbreaking announcement and an essential message to women worldwide.
“I have never been sick a day of my life. I don’t smoke. I rarely drink,” Sidner said. “Breast cancer does not run in my family. And yet, here I am with stage 3 breast cancer. It is hard to say out loud.” She told viewers she was in her second month of chemotherapy and will undergo radiation and a double mastectomy. Optimistic about her treatment plan, Sidner touched on how stage 3 breast cancer “is not a death sentence anymore for most women.”
Sidner’s breast cancer journey began in October 2023, when she was covering the Israel-Hamas war in Israel. While she was overseas, doctors alerted her that she needed to get a biopsy after her routine mammogram alarmed her doctors. Sidner told People magazine that receiving the news amid the devastation she was witnessing daily grounded her. “Seeing the kind of suffering going on where I was and seeing people still live through the worst thing that has ever happened to them with grace and kindness, I was blown away by their resilience,” Sidner said.
“In some weird way, it helped me with my own perspective on what I am going to be facing.”
Sidner’s announcement came with some eye-opening statistics. One in eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer every year. The numbers increase for Black women, as 41% of those battling the disease are more likely to die than white women. Higher death rates from breast cancer among Black women are likely related to greater cases of inflammatory breast cancer, which data shows to be aggressive but less common.
“So to all my sisters, Black and White and Brown out there, please, for the love of God, get your mammograms every single year,” Sidner said.
“Do your self-exams; try to catch it before I do.”
Fortunately there are several new scientific developments for breast cancer detection. A study from the Lancet Oncology journal found that AI can detect breast cancer just as successfully as an experienced radiologist.
After coming to grips with her diagnosis, Sidner decided she wasn’t going to let it define her.
“I just made a decision. I’m like, ‘No, you’re going to live, and you’re going to stop this, and you’re going to do every single thing in your arsenal to survive this,'” she said. “Period. And I have been so much happier in my life since … I mean happier than I was before cancer.”