CNN anchor breaks down on-air while sharing stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis
CNN news anchor Sara Sidner has announced live on air that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The TV presenter became visibly emotional as she made the announcement to viewers and stressed the importance of undergoing checks for the disease regularly. Sara, 51, also shared some eye-opening statistics as she used her platform to try and encourage other women to make sure they are getting their yearly mammograms.
She said: "Just take a second to recall the names of eight women who you love and know in your life. Just count them on your fingers. Statistically, one of them will get or have breast cancer. I am that one of eight in my friend group."
Sara divulged that she is currently in her second month of chemotherapy and will also undergo a double mastectomy in a bid to beat the disease. She also reassured viewers that a breast cancer diagnosis is not a "death sentence" for most women but that she was "shocked" when she came across one statistic.
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Sara Sidner presents the news on CNN (Getty Images for CNN)She said: "If you happen to be a Black woman, you are 41 per cent more likely to die from breast cancer than your White counterparts. Forty-one per cent." Sara reportedly learned of her diagnosis in October when she travelled to Israel to report on the war with Hamas.
The journalist was told she would have to have a biopsy before she could return to the US. Then just days after her return to New York, she was told that the biopsy had confirmed her lump was cancer and that it was at stage 3.
She explained: "When I got the news, I didn't tell anybody, not even my mother or husband or sisters or friends. I just needed to process it." the Susan G. Komen Foundation states that black women "tend to be diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age than white women."
Data suggests that black women are diagnosed with breast cancer at the average age of 60 while white women are typically diagnosed at age 64. A stage 3 diagnosis means that the cancer has extended beyond its immediate growth area in the breast, typically into lymph nodes and muscles.
If the cancer spreads into other organs it then becomes a stage 4 diagnosis for which there is no cure available. Sara stressed how she has lived a healthy lifestyle as she further discussed the diagnosis. She said: "I have never been sick a day of my life. I don't smoke. I rarely drink. 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."
There are several known factors that increase the risk of getting breast cancer. These include increased age, excessive alcohol use, radiation exposure, tobacco use, reproductive history, postmenopausal hormone therapy, and family history of breast cancer.
For more information on breast cancer and details on how to self-check your breasts go to The National Breast Cancer Foundation.
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