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Interviews archive
Lifestyle Interview 2003 Anastacia’s nightmare 5/29/03 10:20:07 AM (GMT +2) LONDON —Pop star Anastacia recalls the moment she got the earth-shattering news every woman dreads. She had gone for a routine check-up before an operation to have her DD breasts reduced. But doctors had to tell her they had found cancer in her left breast. Anastacia, who was only 29, had to undergo a seven-hour operation to remove a malignant lump and have her breast reconstructed. Talking for the first time about her nightmare, the US singer says she wants to inspire other women to get scans to detect the disease. She has been given the all-clear but still faces radiotherapy to blast any remaining cancer cells. Anastacia was stunned by her diagnosis in January. She says: "I hadn’t detected a lump. I’ve always been naturally large-breasted with a small frame — I wanted a normal-sized chest. "The doctor told me I had to get a mammogram. I told him, ‘Hey, mine are clean, I have no lumps, but if you say so, I’ll go.’ I had no idea. "When I had the mammogram later that day I could see from the woman’s eyes that something was wrong. "The scan showed I had patterns of cancer in my left breast and it was obvious that there was major activity going on. I didn’t really take it in. "I saw my doctor straight away and he reassured me we’d caught it in time and it wasn’t a big deal. "But I saw him the next day, after he’d spoken with the mammogram woman, and as soon as I walked in he gave me a hug. "He’s no hugger so I knew it was bad news. He wanted me to see a cancer specialist immediately. "I wanted to get emotional because I had no family with me. But while slowly freaking out I was trying to keep a sound mind. "In the car on the way to the specialist I called my mum, who lives in California. I shrieked, ‘Mum, you have to get here straight away. I’m not strong enough to do this on my own.’ "I was in New York and my mum was flying in the next day but I had to go home alone that night and there was no one to talk it over with. "I knew nothing about breast cancer. I was totally ignorant because I hadn’t known anyone who’d gone through it. "I had the mammogram on a Monday, saw the cancer specialist on Tuesday, my mum flew in on Wednesday and I had a biopsy on Thursday. "It was quick but the following week I had a video shoot for a song I’d done for the Chicago film soundtrack. I didn’t want to let anyone down. "Because I didn’t feel sick it was hard for me to realise I could be hurting myself by waiting. "But when we got the biopsy results the next day it confirmed that it was cancer and it was spreading quickly. "Once it was confirmed this floodgate just opened up. I was upset and scared of the unknown." Anastacia became very ill after the biopsy. Her body rejected medication because she has Crohn’s disease, causing painful inflammation of the stomach. She says: "I was as sick as a dog and as high as a kite and I also got the flu. "I was sweating through my clothes, shooting a video and feeling sick. When the video finished, I fell apart. I just wanted to be by myself. "Having to get on the phone to friends and say, ‘I have cancer’ was really hard. It was easier for me to joke about it, harder to be realistic." Anastacia was told she had a very aggressive cancer that was growing rapidly. She says: "My surgeon has told me that when he opened me up, his heart broke, he was in shock. "It was so advanced, he had to take off 40 percent of my breast — but, hey, I had tonnes, there was a lot of material for him to work with." Anastacia then faced an agonising recovery period. She says: "I was in more pain than I’d ever imagined possible. I couldn’t move for two weeks. "I couldn’t even cry because crying made the pain worse. And there was still a risk that I would have to have the whole breast removed. "When I was told I was clean, my family wanted to open champagne — but I just wanted to cry because I felt guilty to be one of the lucky ones. "I hadn’t expected to feel so sad, but I just cried and cried. "I was on so many different emotional roller coasters and I’d been preparing myself for the worst. "I’d told myself I’d have to have chemotherapy and lose my hair and I was willing to do it." Anastacia admits she was too scared to look at her chest for days after the op. But now she is so proud of her breasts that she can’t stop showing them off. She says: "I knew they’d taken 40 percent away and I didn’t know if I wanted to see what they’d done. But I finally looked four days after surgery." Now I can’t stop showing my breasts off to my girlfriends, I love them. They look like 16-year-old’s breasts, just stunning. And her reaction? She admits: "Upon first sight they were very unpretty titties. "It looked like the left breast was dented — but my plastic surgeon explained that it would fall into place after a week, which it did. "Day by day they became more attractive and now they’re absolutely beautiful." Harder still, Anastacia had to pluck up the courage to show her breasts to a lover. Still single, she was terrified to be intimate with someone — but shortly after her op she fell for a man she could trust, a movie stuntman who is now her boyfriend. She says: "After the op I’d think, oh God, what’s going to happen when I have to show someone? I felt like damaged goods. But we really connected. "Obviously he’s the right person for me because he’s just been unbelievable throughout it all. "He’s perfect. I didn’t show him my breast for a long time but he’s been amazing and wanted to be by my side throughout radiotherapy. "Now I can’t stop showing my breasts off to my girlfriends, I love them. They look like 16-year-old’s breasts, just stunning. "When I look in the mirror it’s like I’ve become instantly cute. And they feel like a normal size, too — a 34C." Despite the all-clear, Anastacia has had to consider what she will do if the cancer returns. Her brave decision will shock many women. She says: "I’ve already decided that I’m going to remove my breasts, both of them, a double mastectomy. — Online Sun. Other News Hey, gig spender! Dancing Days are here again Anastacia’s nightmare State considers kidney transplant for death row inmate Drivers beware of the drunken Australian male A graphic reminder not all is lost with advanced age Language police bar ‘old’, ‘blind’ in US textbooks Ethiopians stage own ‘Live Aid’ gig Back<< -- |
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