Katie Stevens has recently revealed her breast cancer scare and urged people to be cautious about their health.
The 28-year-old actress said she found a lump in her breast in 2019, which turned out to be non-malignant.
During an appearance on Monday’s episode of Good Morning America, Stevens explained she was “really conscious of checking myself every morning” because her character on the series had the BRCA gene mutation that makes you vulnerable to breast cancer.
She said, “A year and a half ago I did find a lump that I would not have found had I not been checking myself. With the support of my friends and my family I immediately went and got it checked out. I’m thankfully fine. It’s benign and it’s good.”
“I think that it just taught me that even though information like that can be scary, it’s better to get the information because knowledge is power,” she added. “Checking yourself and being aware of your body and your health, it’s life-saving.”
The Faking It actress said she was initially hesitant to discuss her health issue.
In 2019, Stevens wrote on Instagram, “I didn’t know if I should share this but, what the heck. I had a little bit of a health scare this week. I want to preface this story by saying that I am 100% okay. But I feel that based on the fact that I play Jane on The Bold Type, I feel a responsibility to share my own personal story.”
She then decided to give herself a self-breast exam on Wednesday morning before work. And during that moment, she experienced a lump in her breast “that wasn’t normal.”
“I had never felt one before, and it didn’t feel like normal breast tissue,” The Bold Type actress recalled. “It was clearly a lump, and that was alarming since I do these exams on myself regularly to have a clear knowledge of my breasts in case this circumstance ever occurred.”
She quickly went for medical testing and “was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief” after receiving the results.
She said, “I have to continue to monitor it every 6 months, but women get these all the time, many women in my family have them too.”
Stevens noted that the lump she had was a benign tumor known as a fibroadenoma.
She said, “I wanted to share this story because this is SO common for women as we get older, but it doesn’t make it any less alarming or scary.” “We should be having more conversations about this, and the biggest takeaway is: if you have something going on that you think might be a health issue, don’t wait,” she added, “Get it checked out.”
