Ananda Lewis, the former host of BET’s Teen Summit, revealed that she has stage 3 breast cancer.
Lewis, 47, announced the news at the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which runs through the month of October.
“That phrase ‘Don’t talk about it be about it,’ that’s been my life for almost two years and honestly there’s nothing any of you could have done so I apologize if you felt like I excluded you. It wasn’t personal, it was just something I needed,” she said in a video posted to her Instagram account.
“I am sharing this with you today because it is the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month and I have been fighting to get cancer out of my body for almost two years,” Lewis said.
She continued, “What I didn’t understand, and what I need you to understand, the reason why I’m here telling you my business, is because I would have had three or four mammograms by the time they caught it. Instead, I’ve had to have 2 PET [positron emission tomography] scans so far. Guess how many mammograms worth of radiation a PET scan is. Anyone? 30! 30! So 60 mammograms! You do the math.”
Lewis continued, “If I had done the mammograms from the time they were recommended when I turned 40, they would’ve caught the tumor in my breast years before I caught it through my own self exam and thermography. 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 easy, 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.”
The media personality went on to say that she had been utilizing alternative and natural treatments, which has helped stop the cancer from spreading like “wild fire,” she said, before urging her followers to get regular check-ups.
“I have been doing 1,000 percent alternative and natural protocols and treatments and I have helped this particular condition not spread like wildfire through my body,” an emotional Lewis shared. “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.”
