Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis has shared a heartbreaking update on her ongoing battle with breast cancer after refusing a double mastectomy
In a heartbreaking interview with CNN on Tuesday (October 15), Ananda Lewis revealed that her breast cancer has spread and is now at stage IV.
The 51-year-old previously opened up about being diagnosed with stage III breast cancer in a 2020 Instagram post, saying that she’d refused mammograms for years over a fear of radiation exposure.
In an interview with CNN’s Stephanie Elam, Ananda Lewis revealed that she chose to ‘keep’ her tumor and explained why she refused surgery when she first was diagnosed.
Lewis shared that she went against her doctors’ recommendation for a double mastectomy following her diagnosis.
‘My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body. I felt like my body is intelligent, I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made,’ Lewis explained.
‘I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way,’ she continued, before adding: ‘Looking back on that, I go, ‘You know what? Maybe I should have.'”
Instead, Lewis tried homeopathic remedies, medication, and radiation, and while her condition improved for a time, she discovered last year that her cancer had spread.
“My lymph system really flared up. It was the first time I ever had a conversation with death because I felt like: This is how it is,” Lewis candidly shared.
“I was just like, ‘Fudge man, I really thought I had this.’ I was frustrated. I was a little angry at myself, and I said, ‘Man, listen. I know you’re coming for me at some point. But I don’t want it to be now. And if you could just wait, I promise when you do come, I’m gonna make it fun for you.'”
She continued, “I literally had that conversation lying in my bed. I couldn’t get out of bed for, like, eight weeks.”
Lewis said of her decision not to have surgery, ‘My quality of life was very important to me, like there’s certain things I know I’m not going to be okay with, and I know myself. I wanted to be here, so I did it my way.”
CNN’s Stephanie Elam shared the interview in an Instagram post, captioning, “I’m forever grateful for their willingness to have this conversation with me – to fully open up for the world. If we can get just one woman to get their mammogram because of this conversation, that’s success. I want everyone to live long, healthy lives.”
