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Former MTV Veejay Opens Up About Breast Cancer Diagnosis
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Former MTV veejay, Ananda Lewis, has opened up about her stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis urging women to get their annual mammograms.
The 47-year-old shared her breast cancer diagnosis on Instagram in the hopes that her story will encourage women to get mammograms.
“It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I need to share this with you,” Lewis captioned a video message to fans.
“This is tough for me to share, but if just ONE woman decides to get her mammogram after watching this, what I’m going through will be worth it.”
“For a really long time, I have refused mammograms, and that was a mistake,” Lewis told fans. “I watched my mom get mammograms for almost 30 years almost, and at the end of that, she had breast cancer, and I said, ‘Huh. Radiation exposure for years equals breast cancer. Yeah, I’m going to pass. Thanks anyway.’”
Although Lewis confided she still believes too much radiation causes cancer, she wants women to know mammograms are vitally important for early detection.
“If I had done the mammograms from the time they were recommended, when I turned 40, they would have caught the tumor in my breast years before I caught it through my own breast exam — self exam — and thermography,” Lewis shared. “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 easier, 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.”
“I have a nine-year-old I need to be here for,” Lewis said. “I have no intention on leaving him. I don’t want to leave any of my kids. I don’t want to leave my friends or my family. Hell, I don’t want to leave myself. I like being here. So, listen, this is not how this was supposed to go but I’m just going to keep it real with you like I always do.”
“For me it was important to come to you and admit where I went wrong with this, because it could help you or someone you know,” she concluded. “This is an ongoing journey for me.”
