Christina Applegate Cancer-Free After Double Mastectomy
August 19, 2008
Christina Applegate is cancer-free after a very tough decision.
The Samantha Who? actress chose to get a double mastectomy, rather than undergoing chemotherapy or radiation to rid her body of breast cancer.
“This was the choice that I made, and it was a tough one,” Applegate said on Good Morning America.
She added, “I cry, and sometimes I scream. I get really angry. It’s all part of healing.”
But at the end of the day, she has a clean bill of health.
“I’m clear,” she said. “Absolutely 100 percent clear and clean. It did not spread. They got everything out, so I’m definitely not going to die from breast cancer...maybe a bus.”
The actress’ rep announced earlier this month that Applegate was being treated for breast cancer after it was detected through a doctor-ordered MRI.
“I was so mad,” she said in the GMA interview. “I was just shaking and—and then also immediately, I had to go into ... `take-care-of-business-mode,’ which was ... I asked them, `What do I do now? What — what is it that I do? I get a doctor, I get a surgeon, I get an oncologist? What do I do?’”
Applegate, 36, says she “immediately made those appointments and immediately called around for ... someone to start teaching me how to live macrobiotically [avoiding processed foods].”
The actress, whose mother battled breast cancer, says she began getting mammograms at the age of 30.
“If this had been caught a year from now, I probably wouldn’t be able to have lived through this.” She explains, “An MRI can see cells, you don’t have to wait for a mammogram.”
As a result, Applegate is putting together a program that will pay for MRIs for women at high risk for breast cancer.
An MRI is anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000, and is often not covered by insurance.
The 36-year-old actress is scheduled to appear on a one-hour TV special, Stand Up to Cancer to be aired on ABC, CBS and NBC on Sept. 5 to raise funds for cancer research.
After all this, Applegate still sees the positive in the situation. She adds, “I’ll have the best boobs in the nursing home.”
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