RICHMOND, Va. — In a two-minute emotional segment, CNN anchor Sara Sidner recently stunned viewers when she announced she had Stage 3 breast cancer.
“I have never been sick a day in my life,” Sidner said. “Yet here I am with Stage 3 breast cancer. It’s hard to say out loud.”
Sidner was a healthy 51-year-old who didn’t smoke and rarely drank alcohol.
She also had no family history of breast cancer.
“I felt like she covered a lot of topics,” VCU Health Oncologist Dr. Hetal Vachhani said.
Dr. Vachhani said Sidner’s diagnosis is very common and she stressed early detection.
“If we can diagnose them in Stages 1 and 2, early-stage patients can be cured,” Dr. Vachhani said. “That’s the take-home message she wanted to portray as well.”
Vachhani said Stage 3 is also still curable.
“Women need to be aware of the risk factors they have. Of course, being a woman is a risk factor, aging women is a risk factor,” Vachhani said.
She also said personal factors go into the risk assessment such as: