One in eight women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
asserted
women → diagnose → lifetime
The good news is that early detection and treatment are only getting better.
asserted
detection → get → ?
When breast cancer is caught in its earliest stages the 5-year survival rate is over 99%.
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rate → catch → stages
While most women know to self-check and be on the lookout for unusual lumps and bumps, this disease doesn’t always look the same — as is demonstrated by celebrities who’ve spoken out about their own diagnoses.
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who → know → diagnoses
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins, here’s how 6 stars say they figured out something was wrong.
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something → begin → ?
The “Something’s Gotta Give” actress revealed this week that she had found something “weird” months before she was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall.
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she → get → cancer
“I was in my closet, I was probably putting something on and I felt a weird — it just didn’t feel like normal skin — but it wasn’t the frozen pea that everybody talks about,” Peet told Savannah Guthrie on the “Today” show.
asserted
Peet → put → show
She’d gotten an MRI and thought she was walking away with “a clean bill of health.”
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she → get → health
At a routine scan six months later, doctors noticed something suspicious on a ultrasound that was later confirmed to be cancer.
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that → notice → ultrasound
“I’ll never forget that moment,” she recalled.
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she → forget → moment
Peet, 54, received her first clear, cancer-free scan in mid-January after getting treatment.
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Peet → receive → treatment
2. Shannen Doherty
The first one to spot the “Beverly Hills, 90210” actress’s cancer might have been her pup Bowie.
uncertain
one → spot → cancer
“She would obsessively sniff right here on my right side for a long time before,” Doherty told Entertainment Tonight.
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Doherty → sniff → Tonight
“So, it made sense when I got diagnosed.”
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I → make → sense
Doherty was diagnosed in 2015 and underwent chemotherapy and radiation.
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Doherty → diagnose → chemotherapy
“When I got back from surgery, [Bowie] again was kind of right in this area,” Doherty said, gesturing to her right side.
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Doherty → get → side
“Then when I had my first chemo, she would sniff my entire body up and down.
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she → have → body
And she was always protective before, but she has become this crazy, protective dog.
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she → become → ?
It’s hard to get close to me when she’s around.”
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she → ’ → me
The actress fought breast cancer for nearly a decade, getting treatments including mastectomy and brain surgery, before her passing in 2024.
3.
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actress → fight → 2024
Etheridge was on a summer concert tour in 2004 when she felt a lump on her breast.
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she → feel → breast
“I was like, ‘Whoa!’ And it was large!” the singer, now 65, said in an interview for AARP.
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singer → say → AARP
“That little voice in the back of my head started going, ‘Is it cancer?
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it → start → head
Your father died of cancer.
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father → die → cancer
Your aunt died of cancer.
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aunt → die → cancer
Your grandmother died of cancer …
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grandmother → die → cancer
You can’t quiet the voice.
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You → quiet → voice
A biopsy confirmed it was breast cancer — which was shocking, because she’d recently had a physical that included a breast exam.
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that → confirm → exam
She underwent chemotherapy and by 2005, when her treatment was completed, she said she was “cancer-free.”
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she → undergo → 2005
In 2005, Minogue got a mammogram, which came back clear.
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which → get → mammogram
She was 36 at the time and performing on her “Showgirl” tour.
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She → perform → tour
Current guidance recommends women get one once a year after age 40.
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women → recommend → age
“They didn’t find anything,” the “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” singer told Ellen DeGeneres.
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singer → find → DeGeneres
But “a couple of weeks later, I found a lump.”
asserted
I → find → lump
“Because someone is in a white coat and using big medical instruments doesn’t necessarily mean they’re right.”
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they → use → instruments
She underwent a lumpectomy (removal of the tumor that leaves the breast intact) and chemotherapy, and was declared cancer free in 2006.
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that → undergo → 2006
In 2021, she was diagnosed with breast cancer a second time after it was detected in a routine checkup, she revealed in a documentary for Netflix.
asserted
she → diagnose → Netflix
“Early detection was very helpful, and I am so grateful to be able to say that I am well today,” she said in the documentary “Kylie.”
5.
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she → say → documentary
Kristen Dahlgren
Dahlgren, then a NBC News correspondent, was getting ready to meet friends when she saw a slight dent on her right breast in 2019.
asserted
she → get → 2019
Only a few years earlier, she’d reported on a story about lesser known symptoms — including dents, nipple changes, dimples, itching, swelling, pain and redness.
asserted
she → report → dents
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
