CNN’s Sara Sidner Reveals Stage 3 Breast Cancer Diagnosis On Air

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CNN’s Sara Sidner ended her Monday, January 8, broadcast by sharing that she has been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

“I have a personal note that I would like to share with you,” Sidner, 51, said on Monday morning broadcast of CNN News Central. “I want to start by doing this and asking you a big favor. Just take a second to recall the names of eight women who you love and you know in your life. Just eight, count them on your fingers.”

Sidner explained that “statistically” one out of eight women will either “get or have breast cancer.”

“I am that one in eight of my friend group,” she revealed. “I have never been sick a day of my life. I don’t smoke, I rarely drink. Breast cancer does not run in my family, and yet here I am with stage 3 breast cancer. It is hard to say out loud.”

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Many celebrities have spoken out about their personal battles with breast cancer over the years. Julia Louis-Dreyfus went public with her breast cancer diagnosis in September 2017 via Instagram. Nearly one year later, she had successfully beaten the illness and returned to work on Veep. “It sounds kind of corny, but there’s something about after […]

The journalist announced that she was currently in her “second month” of chemotherapy treatments. Following chemo, she will undergo “radiation and a double mastectomy.”

“Stage 3 is not a death sentence anymore for the vast majority of women,” she said. “But here is the reality that really shocked my system when I started to research more.”

After learning more about breast cancer, Sidner revealed that she learned that Black women are “41 percent” more likely to die from breast cancer compared to white women.

“So to all my sisters, Black and white and brown out there, please, for the love of God, get your mammograms every single year,” Sidner pleaded. “Do your self-exams, try to catch it before I did.”

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As Sidner shared her diagnosis, she couldn’t help but express her gratitude for how much having cancer has given her a more positive outlook on life.

“I have thanked cancer for choosing me, no matter what hell we go through in life that I am still madly in love with this life and just being alive feels really different for me now,” she said in an emotional speech. “I am happier because I don’t stress about foolish little things that used to annoy me and now every single day that I breathe another breath I can celebrate that I am still here.”

Sidner concluded her broadcast by sharing how grateful she is to be here with her viewers, CNN coworkers and family. Many of Sidner’s colleagues took to social media to express their support for her.

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“I am in awe of your strength, @sarasidnerCNN,” Kaitlan Collins wrote via X (formerly Twitter.) “This is a message that will save lives.”

Former congressman Joe Walsh also shared well wishes from him and his wife Helene Walsh.

“@sarasidnerCNN is tough, fearless, diligent, & faithful. She’ll lick this,” he tweeted. “@Helene731 & I give her our thoughts & prayers. F–k cancer. You got this Sara.”