Katie Couric, the broadcast journalist who famously aired her colonoscopy on the TODAY show in 2000, is one of the biggest advocates for precautionary screening and regular checkups.
Her recent openness about dense breasts and being diagnosed with breast cancer has inspired women across the country to schedule mammograms, including actress Jenny Mollen. Overdue for her annual screening, Jenny promptly scheduled her appointment, urging her followers to do the same. Both she and Katie remind us that, though it’s easy to forget, regular screening for the early detection of breast cancer is the best way to beat it.
When Katie went in for her annual mammogram six months late, in June of 2022, she decided to record it to raise breast cancer awareness and remind others to get screened as well. First, she cracked jokes as the mammogram scanned her breasts; then, because she had dense breast tissue, she also got an ultrasound. This was all very routine for her.
Until the doctor came in and asked her to stop recording.
The scans had found something that could have been scar tissue, but Katie’s doctor wanted to run a biopsy just in case. And it’s a good thing she did because it turned out that Katie had a malignant tumor in her left breast. A tumor, that because it was caught early, was easily treatable.
Katie got a lumpectomy to remove the tumor, then received several rounds of radiation to kill the remaining breast cancer cells.
In the Katie Couric breast cancer essays, she describes her journey, hammering home the importance of regular screening and reminding us that anyone can develop breast cancer, regardless of family history.
Before she was diagnosed with cancer, Katie was no stranger to the disease. She witnessed it first-hand when her husband died of colon cancer, when her sister died of pancreatic cancer, and when both her parents and other loved ones fought the disease.
In fact, her late husband’s colon cancer was what spurred her to stream her colonoscopy on television, leading to 20% more people getting colonoscopies themselves.
Now, to raise awareness, she shares her story about radiation treatment and how regular breast cancer screening possibly saved her life. She urges women to not only get an annual mammogram but also to ask their doctor about their breast density. When you have dense breasts, your risk is higher for developing breast cancer and it goes undetected. As someone with dense breasts herself, Katie gets both a mammogram and an ultrasound so that her doctor can better locate any abnormalities.
If Katie had not gotten a breast screening and found the tumor when she had, her cancer could have become much harder to treat. Though there are helpful breast cancer prevention strategies, it’s important to take precautionary screening seriously. Every woman– despite age or family history– is at risk for developing breast cancer.
Don’t wait any longer; schedule an appointment with Eve Wellness and detect any issues early.
At Eve Wellness, we perform advanced whole breast ultrasounds so that any abnormalities can be detected early, even in younger women and those with dense breast tissue.
Schedule an appointment today and make your health your priority.
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