Olivia Munn is battling an aggressive form of breast cancer: the actress underwent a double mastectomy
Actress Olivia Munn has revealed she is battling an aggressive form of breast cancer and has undergone a double mastectomy. The star of the movie “X-Men: Apocalypse” spoke about this on her Instagram*.
The 43-year-old actress published a post in which she told her story. Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer in April last year and soon after underwent a double mastectomy, as well as three more breast surgeries. Mann’s disease was discovered by her doctor, whom she calls her “guardian angel.”
"In February 2023, I took a genetic test, which tests you for 90 different cancer genes. All genes, including BRCA (the best known breast cancer gene), came back negative. My sister Sarah was also negative. We called each other and "joyfully exclaimed on the phone. That same winter, I had a mammogram, everything was fine. And two months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer," Mann wrote.
Olivia added that she would not have known about the diagnosis for another year - until her next mammogram - if her gynecologist Thais Aliabadi had not decided to calculate a breast cancer risk score.
"Having her do this saved my life. Dr. Aliabadi took into account factors such as my age, family history of breast cancer and the fact that I had my first child after age 30. She found that my lifetime risk was 37 percent." “,” noted the actress, who is raising a two-year-old son with her lover, comedian and writer John Mulaney.
Having learned the risk percentage, the doctor sent the actress for an MRI and ultrasound, and then for a biopsy, which showed that Olivia had luminal cancer in both mammary glands. Luminal B cancer is an aggressive, rapidly progressing cancer. “One day I felt completely normal, and the next I woke up in a hospital bed after a 10-hour operation,” recalls the actress.
Over the past 10 months, Mann has undergone 4 surgeries and spent most of her time in bed. The actress notes that she tried not to give in to emotions. "Surprisingly, I only cried twice. I guess I didn't feel like I had time to cry. I focused and pushed aside any emotions that I thought might be keeping me from being clear-headed."
The star hid her diagnosis from the public. She recently appeared with her boyfriend at the Oscars and before that she was also spotted at several social events. Olivia noted that she didn't want to show her pain in public and "tried for people to see me when I have energy, when I can get dressed and leave the house, when I can take my baby to the park."[img]8593[ /img]
The actress thanked all the doctors for their help, as well as her friends, relatives and lover for helping her survive the disease.
"I'm so grateful to my friends and family for loving me through it all. I'm so grateful to John for the nights he spent learning what each surgery and medication meant, as well as the side effects and recovery I could expect." "For being there for me before every surgery and being there when I woke up, always putting framed pictures of our little boy Malcolm so that it would be the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes."[img]8594[ /img]
Mann encourages all women to ask their doctors to calculate a breast cancer risk score. "Dr. Aliabadi says that if it's more than 20%, you should have annual mammograms and breast MRIs starting at age 30. I was lucky. We caught the disease early enough that I had a chance."