Jenna Fischer announces she is “cancer free” after being diagnosed with breast cancer last year

CNN
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Jenna Fischer highlights Breast Cancer Awareness Month by sharing that she is now “cancer-free” after being diagnosed with the disease in October 2023.

Fischer, 50, detailed her cancer journey on her Instagram page on Tuesday, writing that she was diagnosed with stage I triple-positive breast cancer – an aggressive form of breast cancer driven by the hormones estrogen and progesterone and the HER2 protein becomes American Cancer Society – last year after a routine mammogram.

To treat her cancer, she underwent a lumpectomy “to remove the tumor,” radiation, IV fluids and chemotherapy, which, she wrote, caused her to lose her hair.

“I am pleased to say I recently had a re-evaluation and the treatments have worked. I am cancer-free,” Fischer wrote. “I will continue to receive treatment and monitoring to keep it that way.”

The “The Office” star posted a photo of herself with what she called a “patchy pixie” haircut and wrote that she wanted to share a photo of herself now “happy and in keeping with this news.” “look healthy.”

Fischer decided to make her announcement this week to “beg” her followers to get their annual mammograms, writing that her tumor was “so small you couldn’t feel it during a physical exam.”

In May, CNN reported that women at average risk of breast cancer are recommended to have mammograms every two years starting at age 40 and continuing until age 74, according to recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

Fischer also wrote that she wants other women undergoing cancer treatment to feel less alone.

“As anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer knows, life changes instantly. It’s all about doctor appointments, test results, treatments and recovery from treatments,” she wrote. “It takes a village to beat cancer, and I had an amazing village.”

That village, Fischer wrote, consisted of her team of doctors and nurses, as well as other survivors who shared their stories with her, her family and her friends – including her former “Office” co-star and current “Office Ladies” podcast- Co-host Angela Kinsey, who she said “protected me and advocated for me” along the way.

Fischer also thanked her husband Lee Kirk, who “has been by my side through all of this.”

Fischer, Kirk and their two children celebrated the end of their treatment, she wrote, by ceremoniously ringing a bell in their backyard “with everyone throwing confetti.”

A photo to commemorate the celebratory moment is included in Fischer’s contribution.