YouTuber Grace Helbig, 37, has breast cancer. She says she felt 'stupid' telling her doctor about a lump.
YouTuber and comedian Grace Helbig said she was diagnosed with breast cancer a month ago.
She announced the diagnosis in a YouTube video on Monday.
She told viewers to get lumps checked and not to be afraid to ask doctors "stupid" questions.
Grace Helbig announced she has breast cancer in a YouTube video on Monday, where she shared her fears about raising a lump with her doctor.
The comedian and YouTuber, 37, said her cancer is "super treatable, highly beatable, we're going for cure, not remission."
She said she was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer a month ago, which medics think is stage 2A but have not yet confirmed.
According to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the US, with 300,590 new cases expected in 2023. Triple-positive breast cancers are sensitive to certain hormones and the protein HER2, which help the tumor grow.
'Do not be afraid to ask a doctor a 'stupid question''
Helbig said she noticed a "weird lump" in her left breast before being diagnosed, which she had to talk herself into bringing up to her gynecologist during an annual appointment.
She said: "I thought that I was just a stupid little girl that didn't know how girl bodies worked and it's probably just muscle tissue."
The gynecologist agreed that the lump seemed abnormal and sent her for tests. "Thank god I listened to that little voice inside of me that finally got the courage to bring it up," Helbig said.
Breast cancer symptoms include lumps and swelling
Lumps are the most common symptom of breast cancer. Other symptoms include breast swelling, dimpled skin, breast or nipple pain, a nipple turning inward, nipple or breast skin that is red, dry, flaking, or thickened, nipple discharge, and swollen lymph nodes under the arm or near the collar bone.
Breast cancer mainly affects women, particularly those who are middle-aged or older, with the average age of diagnosis being 62.
But other risk factors include reproductive history as starting your period before age 12 or starting menopause after age 55 exposes women to hormones for longer; having dense breasts; a personal or family history of breast cancer; previous radiation therapy treatment; being physically inactive; being overweight; taking hormones; certain oral contraceptives; having a first pregnancy after age 30; and drinking alcohol, according to the CDC.
She was given a mammogram followed by an ultrasound and biopsy, which were ordered quickly, unsettling Helbig and her husband.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Helbig was given a treatment plan of six rounds of chemotherapy, followed by surgery, and hormonal therapy. She said she already had a port inserted in her arm ready for chemo. The American Cancer Society states that triple-positive tumors are treated with drugs that target hormones and the HER2 protein.
"I'm going to fight this little bitch of a thing in my left breast as best and as strongly and as gracefully as I can," she said.
Helbig's announcement comes a month after her friend and fellow YouTuber Hank Green announced that he has a type of cancer called Hodgkin's lymphoma.
She said she had been in contact with Green and that his YouTube videos about cancer had been "so incredibly helpful" to her.
"Get those lumps checked and do not be afraid to ask a doctor what you might think is a stupid question," she said.
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