CNN anchor Sara Sidner told her viewers Friday that she spent 15 days convinced her breast cancer had advanced to an incurable stage. A PET scan had appeared to show the disease had spread throughout her body. A biopsy later came back negative.
Sidner first publicly disclosed a stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis two years ago and has shared updates with her audience periodically since. On Friday, she addressed viewers directly during CNN News Central. "I want to share this update with you, about me," she began. "During these past few weeks i thought that cancer had spread all over my body." She then described how a recent PET scan "lit up like a Christmas tree."
"It indicated I was likely metastatic," she continued. "Stage 4 cancer, incurable. It appeared to have spread to my hip, my spine, my liver, my lungs. I was inconsolable at the time. I immediately, as one does, looked up how long do I have to live. The number came back: Less than five years. That is the median overall survival time for stage 4 breast cancer."
The scan was followed by a biopsy. "It knocked the breath out of me, as you might imagine," she said. "Then I cried. My husband cried with me. My mother was stunned and scared, but surprisingly hopeful, bless her." Doctors performed the biopsy by inserting needles into several areas to collect tissue samples for testing. "Fifteen days of torture later, waiting for results, they came back," Sidner said.
She was in the CNN studio when the biopsy results arrived by email. According to Deadline, Sidner described the moment she opened it. "Like a moth to a flame," she said, "I had to open it. 'Negative,' it said. I uncharacteristically grabbed [co-anchor] John Berman's hand in the cubby hole where we work side by side. 'Negative,' I croaked. A lump of tears was in my throat."
Sidner said her doctor explained that in diagnosing cancer, a biopsy result takes precedence over a scan result. A molecular cancer blood test also confirmed the negative finding. "I had a deep, guttural sigh of relief," she said. Co-anchor Berman, she added, offered his own advice after she shared the good news with him. He told her not to "do what you always do, which is to look for the next worst thing that's gonna happen down the road." His instruction was simple: "Just celebrate the win."
