US entertainment TV presenter Giuliana Rancic has been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. The 37-year-old host of E! News and Fashion Police announced the news on NBC’s Today Show. The cancer was discovered when she went for a mammogram at the insistence of her fertility specialist.
Married to Bill Rancic (winner of Donald Trump’s firstApprentice show) the couple’s struggle with infertility has been followed by millions of people on their reality show Giuliana & Bill. The couple were about to attempt their third round of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) when the mammogram revealed early stage breast cancer.
Married to Bill Rancic (winner of Donald Trump’s firstApprentice show) the couple’s struggle with infertility has been followed by millions of people on their reality show Giuliana & Bill. The couple were about to attempt their third round of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) when the mammogram revealed early stage breast cancer.
"Through my attempt to get pregnant, for the third time through IVF, we sadly found out that I have early stages of breast cancer. It’s been a great shock,” she told Today Show’s Ann Curry. According to Giuliana her doctor sent her for a mammogram, before the third round of IVF-treatment, as pregnancy could accelerate the spread of any potential cancer.
A mammogram is an X-ray exam of the breast used to detect and evaluate breast changes. “At first I did not want to go. Why should I? There’s no breast cancer in our family,” she said. She was also surprised that the doctor insisted on a mammogram as she was only 36 years old at the time and mammograms are generally not recommended for women under the age of 40, unless there is a particularly high risk of breast cancer.
Mammograms are known to be particularly poor imaging tools for finding tumours in younger women as they tend to have denser breast tissue that can look similar to a tumour, which is also dense.“I never in my wildest dreams expected anything to be wrong. So I went kicking and screaming, to be honest," she recalls. When she heard the news it was like a "kick in the stomach". "That was definitely the hardest day. It was incredible instant sobbing, and it was like the world just crashed down around me. I couldn't believe it, 36 years old, no family history."
The good news, though, is that early diagnosis of breast cancer is 100% treatable and because Giuliana’s breast cancer was discovered early, she is expected to make a full recovery. "I will be OK, because I found it early," Giuliana said. She will receive surgery to remove the tumour this week, followed by six weeks of radiation treatment. Giuliana decided to go public about her breast cancer to create awareness and encourage other women to know their breast health status.
“I want to let women know that they should not just be aware of cancer, but that they should act on it and get tested for breast cancer,” she told E! News presenter Ryan Seacrest. “The earlier you find it, the better your chances are on survival.” "A lot of us think we're invincible but we have to start putting ourselves on the to-do list," she said. "I had a friend call me yesterday, and she said, 'I'm so sorry, can I do anything for you?' And I said, 'Just call your doctor tomorrow and make an appointment. That's what you could do for me.”
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