Today, Janice Dickinson announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The emotional Dickinson gave the Daily Mail an exclusive interview chronicling the events that led to her eventual diagnosis.
The 61-year-old supermodel and reality star revealed that she had made a visit to her physician about a mild stomach ailment. During this visit, her doctor decided to give Dickinson a full body check up. It was then that her doctor noticed that there was a very small lump on Dickinson’s right breast. Janice told the Daily Mail that the pea shaped tumor was very painful to the touch. She knew that this was not normal. Even before she received her official diagnosis she knew she had cancer.
Janice Dickinson reveals she has been diagnosed with cancer https://t.co/WUrFcoJqGb pic.twitter.com/yz8RIDMZo2
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) March 28, 2016
Like many women before her who have experienced this life changing diagnosis, Dickinson then went in for an emergency mammogram and then a biopsy. Within a few days from her initial doctor appointment, Dickinson received her diagnosis over the phone while she was shopping with her 22-year-old daughter Savannah.
“It’s still quite shocking. Today I got very scared… I just get very scared and it hit me. But I am not gonna let that define me, the fear. I’m going to get through this, I’ll be just fine kiddo.”
Dickinson’s breast cancer diagnosis is DCIS, Ductal carcinoma in situ. Most women who are diagnosed with breast cancer has this non-invasive form of breast cancer. Treatment for this sort of breast cancer will usually start with a lumpectomy. This is a surgery to remove the lump in the breast. Depending on the diagnosis, some women will need to undergo a mastectomy, the removal of their breast. After surgery will be radiation therapy. Although not common in women diagnosed with DCIS, some will also undergo chemotherapy. At this point, Dickinson will undergo a lumpectomy and radiation therapy.
Starting on April 6, Janice will be checking in on the popular CBS talk show The Doctors as she goes through the different stages of cancer treatment and subsequent procedures. Dickinson is determined to raise awareness of breast cancer. Her regular check-ins give the television show more opportunities to educate women about breast cancer, self-examination, how to detect it and all the treatments after a diagnosis. The American Cancer Society has a shocking prediction of how many women will go through the same experience as Dickinson.
“About 1 in 8 (12%) women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. The American Cancer Society’s estimates for breast cancer in the United States for 2016 are: About 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women.”
By putting Janice on this popular television show will give women, and everyone close to them, insight into their health and the importance of regular mammograms. As Dickinson is very outspoken, she will most likely be quite upfront about the sorts of emotions that go along with a breast cancer diagnosis.
She is not the only celebrity that has publicly disclosed a breast cancer diagnosis. Good Morning America news anchor Amy Robach famously received a mammogram on live television only to discover that she had breast cancer. She has also been very forthcoming in discussing not only what she experienced, but how she felt during the process.
While it is understandable that she is in shock, Dickinson has shown that she has a fighting spirit. She wants to be strong for her children and her fiancé Dr. Robert “Rocky” Gerner. Although her treatments are going to start very soon, she is still planning on marrying this summer.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, this is not a pity party, I’m Janice Dickinson and I’m gonna stick around for a long, long time, you ain’t getting rid of me yet.”
[Image By Toglenn |Wikimedia Commons|Cropped and resized| CC BY-SA 3.0]
