‘Home Edit’ Star Clea Shearer Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis: ‘If Anyone Can Crush Cancer, It’s Me’
Clea Shearer revealed she was recently diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of breast cancer.
The Home Edit star said she felt two lumps while performing a self exam just after her 40th birthday and learned she had stage 1 invasive mammary carcinoma after a biopsy.
Shearer will undergo a double mastectomy this week: “I’m a fighter. If anyone can crush cancer, it is me.”
Clea Shearer is opening up about her health. In a new interview with People, The Home Edit star revealed she was recently diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of breast cancer. Just before her diagnosis, Shearer said she felt two concerning lumps in her breast while performing a self-breast exam. She immediately called her doctor, who ordered a biopsy.
“I went in for a mammogram and then it turned into an ultrasound and the ultrasound came back as ‘suspicious and concerning,’ which led to an emergency triple biopsy, that same day,” she said. After a biopsy, results showed she had stage 1 invasive mammary carcinoma, an aggressive form of breast cancer.
Invasive mammary carcinoma, also known as invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), occurs when abnormal cells form in the milk ducts and spread to surrounding breast tissue. According to the American Cancer Association (ACS), it's the most common form of breast cancer, making up 80% of cases. In stage 1 IDC, cancer has spread to other parts of the breast tissue, but not to surrounding lymph nodes.
Shearer said that, because she was 40 and she doesn't have a family history of breast cancer, she thought she would not be diagnosed with breast cancer. (Although those with a family history are at risk of developing breast cancer, most women with breast cancer do not have a family history, the ACS says.)
“It’s crazy to look in the mirror and tell yourself that right now, as you’re physically standing there, you are a person who has cancer. It's crazy to say it out loud,” she said of receiving her diagnosis. “It was really scary and really, really, really emotional.”
The mom of two will undergo a double mastectomy this week, and will then assess with her doctor if she’ll need to receive chemotherapy or further treatment. Shearer admitted to feeling most anxious about revealing the news to her young children, but she’s feeling confident in her ability to get well soon.
“I’m a fighter. If anyone can crush cancer, it is me,” she said. “I'm literally afraid for cancer and I’ve got this. Even though I know that I’ll be scared the night before, and I’m sure, in the first weeks of recovery, I’ll be pretty grumpy, but it doesn’t mean that I feel any less resolute about absolutely nailing it and putting cancer in my rearview.”
Shearer is encouraging women everywhere to self-check for lumps. The ACS recommends women ages 40 and above start annual breast cancer screenings and mammograms with a doctor. Though, ACS warns that this should be in addition to, and not in place of, annual mammograms for people with an average risk of developing breast cancer.
“If I can make my cancer purposeful, [I want to] have people understand that if you feel anything amiss, you have to say something. You might not get a response from your doctor that you like. They might push it off and say you don't need a test or we'll get you in at your next physical. But we know our body’s best,” Shearer said.
“Self-examining is the best thing you can possibly do and it costs nothing. Self-examining is what saved me. I think I would be in a very different scenario right now had I not pushed this through myself.”
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