CNN’s Sara Sidner ended a recent broadcast by sharing “a personal note.” She continued by explaining that one in eight women get breast cancer. She shared, “I am that one in eight in my friend group.” She added, “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.”
During her announcement, Sidner looked like she was trying hard to keep her emotions in check, and she even pointed out that fact, saying that “it’s hard to say out loud” that she has stage 3 breast cancer.
Sidner went on to explain how she is fighting the cancer. She said, “I am in my second month of chemo treatments and will do radiation and double mastectomy.”
Even though stage 3 cancer sounds bad, Sidner shared the good news that “Stage 3 is not a death sentence anymore for the vast majority of women.”
Sidner went on to explain that after getting diagnosed with breast cancer, she started to do some research and came across some statistics that surprised her. She shared, “If you happen to be a black woman, you are 41% more likely to die from breast cancer than your white counterparts.” She went on to urge her “sisters” of all skin colors to “please, for the love of God, get your mammograms every single year. Do your self-exams. Try to catch it before I did.”
Towards the end of her announcement, while her voice was breaking with emotion, Sidner shared that she’s “thanking cancer for choosing” her because it made her realize that she’s “madly in love with this life, and just being alive feels really different for me now. I am happier because I don’t stress about foolish little things that used to annoy me.”
Sidner told PEOPLE, “Mentally, it has been 90% good for me because it’s just opened my eyes to how beautiful this life that we have is. I love my life now more than I can remember since probably 7 or 8. I really, truly feel grateful just to be here.”
It was October 2023 when Sidner discovered her mammogram results were concerning. A biopsy several weeks later resulted in her cancer diagnosis. At first, she didn’t tell anyone. She explained, “When I got the news, I didn’t tell anybody, not even my mother or husband or sisters or friends.” She added, “I just needed to process it.”
Before telling anyone, Sidner thought of her diagnosis as a death sentence and started writing letters to people she loved the most. The first letter was to her mother.
Then, Sidner changed her mind and decided that she wasn’t going to come to terms with a death sentence. She was going to fight to live. She started treatments and resolved to live. She explained, “I just made a decision. I’m like, ‘No, you’re going to live and you’re going to stop this and you’re going to do every single thing in your arsenal to survive this. Period.’ And I have been so much happier in my life since … I mean happier than I was before cancer.”
Sidner isn’t letting her diagnosis or treatment slow her down. She hasn’t missed work even though she admits, “I am fatigued and I am slower, and I have to be more thoughtful about how I take care of myself.”
The reason Sidner decided to reveal her diagnosis now is that she has started to lose her hair and knows that she can’t hide what she’s facing much longer even if she tried.
See Sidner’s full announcement about her cancer diagnosis and battle in the video below.
