Moving Forward After Cancer
- Actress Alicia Witt was recently unveiled as Dandelion on “The Masked Singer,” and she says her experience on the show was magical after privately battling breast cancer.
- The famous actress says she felt empowered in her costume after breast cancer reconstruction and confident showcasing her skills as a singer.
- Life after cancer can look different, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
- We’ve talked to many survivors about how they processed the emotions of completing treatment and gained invaluable lessons from the experience.
Witt is an actress known for her wide array of roles on shows like “Orange is the New Black,” “Twin Peaks” and “Justified.”
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“just a little over 2 months ago, i had my last round of chemical therapy prior to my mastectomy,” she wrote in her Instagram post. A mastectomy is a procedure to remove one or both breasts.
“my beloved, brilliant, collaborative, communicative doctor,@habibdoss at @tnoncology, was there to celebrate with us as i rang the bell!
“although we didn't yet know for absolute certain until after the mastectomy that the disease was completely healed from my left breast, this marked the end of my carboplatin/taxotere, + herceptin/perjeta (the latter two are immunotherapies which will continue, per protocol for HER2+, through the end of this year).”
Thankfully, Witt is still doing well today, and fans got to see her glorious performances as Dandelion on “The Masked Singer.”
Alicia Witt and “The Masked Singer”
In a recent interview with People, Alicia Witt talked about receiving her invite to compete on season 9 of the show the same day she had her breast reconstruction surgery, which is a procedure to rebuild the look and shape of the breast after removal.
Thriving After Cancer
“I was coming out of my anesthesia, and I was so groggy I wasn’t even quite sure if I had seen the email right,” she said. “The next day I was a little bit more coherent. I was like, did I get an email from ‘The Masked Singer’ last night? It felt like divine timing.”
“I thought, it’s not only going to be fun, this could be one of the most profound experiences I’ve ever had. And it truly was.”
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Referencing the experience as “a lifetime high,” Witt said it was amazing to perform as a singer without any preconceived notions from the audience. She says it’s likely helped people see her as an actress and a singer not one more so than the other.
“It makes me so emotional just thinking about the feeling of connecting with that audience without being able to see them and without them being able to see me,” she said. “[It] was utterly magical for me. It wouldn’t be the same if I were just myself. It was a very emotional experience for me.”
The Reality About Going Back To Work After Cancer
Witt says she was “100 percent healed” by the time she taped her episodes for the show. She feels grateful for the experience because her whole disguise became a way to really embrace her post-cancer body.
“That was amazing, to celebrate my reconstruction in that way, because it was kind of a tight-fitting costume,” she said. “And I did have this sense when the unmasking happened and I got to take it off, I was sad because I also was having such a good time… But I also felt like, now I get to show my smile to everyone.”
Hoping to be of some inspiration for other breast cancer warriors, Witt continues to let fans in on her struggles, invite them to celebrate in her triumphs and encourage them to take care of their health.
“When I chose to share [my breast cancer story], I thought, I really want to let other women know, all of the women who are going to hear that news, just let them know: don’t go to the worst-case scenario in your head,” she said. “The truth is, most of the time, you’re going to be all right. There’s some things you can do to help give you the best odds possible that that will be your outcome.”
Life After Cancer
When you’re in the thick of a cancer journey, it can be hard to imagine what life will look like when treatments are finally behind you. For Alicia Witt, cancer changed many things among them her lifestyle.
“You don’t just beat it and then go back to living your life the way you did before,” she said. “I’m not a drinker anymore.
“I’m honored to be able to help share this a little bit so that women hearing this know what you can do to make yourself even healthier and support your body years after you’ve completed the treatment and you get the all-clear.”
Sometimes life after cancer brings on a whole new world of obstacles, too. CC Webster previously reflected with SurvivorNet on the impact of her cancer journey.
"In life after cancer, I experienced an entirely new level of anxiety that I didn't know existed," the Hodgkin lymphoma survivor said. "Earth shattering anxiety that makes you sweat, and makes your heart race.
“I had to learn how to manage myself in that, and how to allow myself to process the trauma that I had just been through."
Follow That Fire: Life After Cancer Will be Different, That Doesn't Have to be a Bad Thing
She says her anxiety “came from not knowing the ways in which [she] had changed.” Eventually, however, Webster found ways to process her emotions and get back to living life on her own terms.
“The thing that helped me the most in managing myself is to allow yourself to process the worry,” she said. “If you’re brave enough to look fear, or worry, or anxiety in the face, it goes away.
“The whole process of being sick, especially at a young age, gives you more perspective on yourself and on the life that you want, because we’ve gotten the second chance. And if you can be bad ass enough to follow that fire, it is an amazing thing. It will take you places where you didn’t even know existed.”
No one ever wants cancer, but the lessons the disease can teach are invaluable. On the other side of her breast cancer journey, survivor Fernanda Savino said she developed a whole new appreciation for her life, body and loved ones.
"I'm a lawyer, and I used to be such a workaholic," Fernanda told SurvivorNet. "I would work for long hours, and I would never make room for doctor appointments or anything like that.
"I started to take care of my health and be more respectful to my body, to me. I started to exercise more."
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