CNN anchor Sara Sidner announced during an emotional segment Monday she has been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.
Sidner told viewers that she is in her second month of chemotherapy and will undergo radiation treatment and a double mastectomy.
The CNN host choked up while reflecting on her heartbreaking diagnosis.
“I have never been sick a day in 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,” Sidner said. “It is hard to say out loud.”
She said her diagnosis is not a “death sentence” for women nowadays and read off statistics about black women being 41 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than their white counterparts. The anchor said she “thanked” cancer for choosing her because it forced her to appreciate the little things in life. (RELATED: Ron DeSantis Announces His Wife Has Cancer)
“I’m learning that no matter what hell we go through in life, that I am still madly in love with this life, and just being alive feels very different for me now,” she said. “I’m 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’m still here with you, I am here with my co-anchors, my colleagues, my family, and I can love and cry and dream and hope. And that, my dear friends, is enough.”
The average risk of a woman developing breast cancer in her lifetime is about 13 percent, meaning around one in eight women are diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.