From Roger O’Donnell announcing his aggressive lymphoma diagnosis to “Love Is Blind’s” Shaina Hurley opening up about her cervical cancer while three months pregnant, here’s what’s happening in the oncology space this week.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Keyboardist Roger O’Donnell announced this week that he was diagnosed with “a very rare and aggressive form of lymphoma” last year. O’Donnell, who is 68 years old, shared the news on X in honor of September being Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
"In September last year I was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of lymphoma," O'Donnell said in the post. "I had ignored the symptoms for a few months but finally went and after surgery the result of the biopsy was devastating."
O’Donnell continued to say that he underwent 11 months of treatment, including immunotherapy, cancer drugs and radiotherapy.
"I’m fine and the prognosis is amazing," he said. "The mad axe murderer knocked on the door and we didn’t answer."
Shaina Hurley, who starred on the reality TV show, “Love Is Blind,” revealed that she received a diagnosis of stage 2 cervical cancer while she was three months pregnant with her son. In February, she gave birth to her son and subsequently underwent minimally invasive surgery to treat the cancer. As of June, she is cancer-free and is “on the other side now,” according to PEOPLE.
Hurley recalled that during a routine eight-week pap smear, her doctor had called and said her results were abnormal.
After she underwent a colposcopy (a procedure that checks the cervix and vaginal wall for abnormal tissue), her doctors encouraged her to undergo a cold knife conization, which would allow the doctors to see how much the cancer spread and could remove as much of the cancer as possible.
"The problem is, I was pregnant. [The] cervix is what holds pregnancy. I was at just around three months and so I would most likely lose the baby," Hurley told PEOPLE. "At that point, I just couldn't risk it."
After receiving many messages on social media about her breast cancer timeline, actress Olivia Munn, who is 44 years old, opened up.
“I’ve gotten lots of DMs and questions about my breast cancer timeline so I thought that I should clearly lay it out for you guys,” she said in a video on Instagram. “I hope that by doing so it helps others who have gone through it or are going through it right now. Maybe feel a little comforted and knowing that I’ve gone down the same path and I’m doing OK.”
In April 2023, Munn was diagnosed with luminal B breast cancer and revealed in May that she underwent a hysterectomy (full removal of the uterus) and froze her eggs. Most recently, she shared that she started taking Arimidex (anastrozole) in August.
Arimidex is an oral breast cancer treatment that stops the growth of tumors by blocking the production of estrogen, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
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