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From a Netflix star revealing a breast cancer diagnosis to “Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts sharing what emotions she felt when partner Amber Laign was diagnosed with breast cancer, here’s what is happening in the cancer space this week.
“I have breast cancer,” Shearer, 40, wrote in an Instagram post. “It’s a hard thing to say, but it’s easier than keeping it to myself. I’m having a double mastectomy tomorrow (prayers are welcome!), and I wanted to say a few words before I do.”
She disclosed that she found a lump on her breast at the end of February and after a mammogram and a triple biopsy, she was informed she had two tumors that are considered aggressive and fast-moving.
“It’s a personal choice to make this public, but sharing my experience makes cancer feel purposeful,” she wrote.
“I didn't get terrible (emotional) till the end (of the video) about Amber,” Roberts said during an interview with Tamron Hall, of the emotional video she posted on Instagram revealing Laign's diagnosis.
“Up until that point, when you are the patient going through it, you've got on your armor, and I'm an athlete at heart and my doctors are my coaches and I had a game plan, the chemotherapy, the treatment,” she continued. “When your loved one is going through it, you feel so helpless.”
Roberts herself has had two bouts with cancer — breast cancer in 2007 and myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood cancer, in 2012. She announced her long-time partner’s diagnosis in February.
At one point, Jeremy Blythe, a chef and baker/owner of Sunshine State Sweets in Florida, weighed more than 600 pounds.
“I've always had a very tumultuous relationship with food. It's always been a very emotional relationship,” he said in an interview with a local TV station. “Growing up there was always just, you eat to feel better, I always ate for sadness.”
After a car accident due to falling asleep at the wheel because of sleep apnea, he said he had to make a change.
A diet and gastric bypass surgery helped Blythe lose more than 200 pounds. The excess weight loss allowed doctors to identify a tumor on Blythe’s thyroid.
“For Jeremy, it was a glandular disease in his neck. It was thyroid cancer, actually,” his physician Dr. Christopher DuCoin, director of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery at Tampa General Hospital, said in an interview. “When he lost the weight, we could actually see the goiter and saw that he had cancer.”
“The reason it was never noticed was because my neck was so much bigger,” Blythe said.
DuCoin concluded and said if not for the weight loss, they likely would never have noticed the tumor.
Phillips, 27, was behind the plate on Tuesday night to catch the ceremonial first pitch from 8-year-old Chloe Grimes, who is receiving treatment for cancer.
Prior to the game, Grimes gave Phillips a bracelet that reads “Rally for Chloe our Princess Warrior” as well as a softball and a pitcher of her playing softball.
In the third inning of the Rays’ game against the Oakland Athletics, Phillips hit a towering homerun to right field. What made it extra special was the local broadcast was interviewing Grimes and her mother when the special moment occurred.
In a post-game interview with a local reporter, Phillips was informed about the news that he hit the homerun during an in-game interview with Grimes.
“Usually I’m not at a loss of words, but I had the chance to meet Chloe for the first time and she’s battling cancer and she brought me these gifts … Chloe, you’re an inspiration,” he said holding back tears.
Hockey Hall of Famer Mike Bossy dies of lung cancer.
Mike Bossy, a former hockey player for the New York Islanders and four-time Stanley Cup champion, died of lung cancer on Friday, April 15.
In a statement announcing the 65-year-old’s death on the team’s website, Islanders President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello said: "The New York Islanders organization mourns the loss of Mike Bossy, an icon not only on Long Island but across the entire hockey world. His drive to be the best every time he stepped on the ice was second to none. Along with his teammates, he helped win four straight Stanley Cup championships, shaping the history of this franchise forever. On behalf of the entire organization, we send our deepest condolences to the entire Bossy family and all those who grieve this tragic loss."
Bossy played for the Islanders from 1977 to 1978 and then from 1986 to 1987, and is currently ranked the 22nd highest scorer in the history of the NHL, according to ESPN. In a post on Instagram, fellow hockey legend Wayne Gretzky posted a photo of himself with Bossy with the caption, “It was an honor to play with you. You will be missed.”
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