*TV host and personality Ananda Lewis has revealed that she’s been battling stage 3 breast cancer for the past two years.
The the former host of BET’s Teen Summit and The Ananda Lewis Show is sharing her story during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Hers is a cautionary tale for women, as Lewis admits regret over nevering having mammograms.
“For a really long time, I have refused mammograms, and that was a mistake,” said Lewis in a video message shared on Instagram. “I watched my mom get mammograms for almost 30 years almost, and at the end of that, she had breast cancer, and I said, ‘Huh. Radiation exposure for years equals breast cancer. Yeah, I’m going to pass. Thanks anyway.’”
She goes on to say, “If I had done the mammograms from the time they were recommended, when I turned 40, they would have caught the tumor in my breast years before I caught it through my own breast exam—self exam—and thermography,” Lewis said. “And they would have caught it at a place where it was more manageable. Where the treatment of it would have been a little easier. It’s never easier, but I use that word in comparison to what I’m going through now. Instead, what I’m dealing with is stage 3 breast cancer that is in my lymphs. I need you to get your mammograms.”
Watch her video statement below.
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Lewis said she’s opted for alternative treatment following her diagnosis.
“I have been doing 1000 percent alternative and natural protocols and treatments and I have helped this particular condition not spread like wildfire through my body,” she said. “That’s good news, but it’s not gone, and I still have a lot of work to do. And, I wish I could go back.”
The media personality said she has “no intentions on leaving” her nine-year-old.
“I need to be here for,” she added. “I have no intention on leaving him. I don’t want to leave any of my kids. I don’t want to leave my friends or my family. Hell, I don’t want to leave myself. I like being here. So, listen, this is not how this was supposed to go but I’m just going to keep it real with you like I always do.”
Lewis then urged her followers to share her video message with every woman they know.
“I need you to share this with the women in your life who may be as stubborn as I was about mammograms and I need you to tell them that they have to do it,” Lewis insisted. “Early detection, especially for breast cancer, changes your outcome. It can save their life.”
Watch the video via the Instagram embed above.
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