Jessica St. Clair Opens Up About Her Secret Breast Cancer Battle and How She "Kicked Its Ass"
Jessica St. Clair is ready to call herself a breast cancer survivor.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Playing House star took to Twitter with a very personal message to her fans. As it turns out, the Hollywood actress recently battled breast cancer in private.
"Guys, surprise, I had the big C and then I kicked it's ass," she shared online. "So proud to share my story on @SU2C #loveu #f–kyeslife."
In her message, fans were able to read a personal essay from Jessica where she detailed the day she was diagnosed to the moment she learned she was going to be a-okay.
"On September 15, 2015, I was diagnosed with stage 2b estrogen positive breast cancer. I was 38 years old, with no family history (that I knew of at the time)," she wrote. [Dr. Leslie Memsic], along with my genius plastic surgeon, Dr. Lisa Cassileth, perform a great way of doing a mastectomy called a 'one-step reconstruction,' in which, in one surgery, the breast tissue is removed and the new implants are put in. For women who don't have medical restrictions, it allows them to go to sleep with breasts and wake up with their new breasts intact."
Jessica continued, "It does away with the need for the multiple surgeries, painful tissue expanders or visible scarring that's involved in a traditional mastectomy. Ten days after my one-step reconstruction, I was on the beach with my daughter. No joke."
As evident in her essay, Jessica still has a sense of humor about the scary ordeal. In fact, the actress was quick to crack a few jokes about her "new boobs."
"I am so proud of my new boobs that I take them out whenever I can. I cannot tell you how many women I have pulled into closets in order to show them the results, just so that they can get the word out about this approach to surgery," she explained. "All I'm saying is: if we bump into each other and there's a closet nearby, be prepared to see my new boobs."
After recovering from surgery, Jessica underwent 16 rounds of chemo. Through it all, she tested out "chemo hacks" that made it possible for the actress to "fake it enough that my daughter never knew I was sick, so she was never afraid."
Amid 12 weeks of radiation, Jessica returned to work on the third season of Playing House. And as it turns out, her character Emma will get diagnosed with breast cancer on the small screen.
"We hope that by sharing my experience—our experience, Lennon and I—that somebody who is going through this process or helping their loved one through it might feel less alone, and might even have some better information for their cancer care," Jessica explained. "Because that's really all that matters at the end of the day, right? That we try and be that bridge for each other."
source:-http://www.eonline.com/news/849723/jessica-st-clair-opens-up-about-her-secret-breast-cancer-battle-and-how-she-kicked-its-ass
