US actor Olivia Munn has urged women to be proactive about their health after revealing she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, and underwent a double mastectomy.
The 43-year-old said that she was “lucky” because her doctor caught the cancer “with enough time” that she still had options.
“I want the same for any woman who might have to face this one day,” Munn wrote in an Instagram post, alongside photos and a video of her at the hospital.
“Ask your doctor to calculate your Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. Dr Aliabadi says that if the number is greater than 20 per cent, you need annual mammograms and breast MRIs starting at age 30.”
Starting out as a television journalist, Munn’s career has been mainly in presenting and acting. She’s been a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, appeared on tv dramas and worked in film on movies including Magic Mike, Iron Man 2 and X-Men: Apocalypse.
Her last major public appearance was on Sunday at the Academy Awards with her partner John Mulaney.
Munn said she took a genetic test last year in an effort to be proactive about her health. The test looked at 90 different cancer genes, and she tested negative for all of them, including BRCA (the most well-known breast cancer gene).
Nevertheless, at her next scheduled mammogram, Munn’s OBGYN, Dr Thais Aliabadi, decided to calculate her Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score after looking at risk factors like her age, familial breast cancer history, and the fact that she had her first child after age 30.
“The fact that she did saved my life,” wrote Munn, whose score (37 per cent) was high enough that she got sent for an MRI, which led to an ultrasound and then a biopsy.
Following the biopsy, Munn was diagnosed, in both breasts, with Luminal B cancer– an aggressive, fast moving cancer. Thirty days later, she had a double mastectomy.
Speaking to the psychological side of such a diagnosis and surgery, Munn said she didn’t have “time to cry”.
“My focus narrowed and I tabled any emotions that I felt would interfere with my ability to stay clear headed.”
“I’ve kept the diagnosis and the worry and the recovery and the pain medicine and the paper gowns private,” she said. “I needed to catch my breath and get through some of the hardest parts before sharing.”
Breast cancer is the most commonly-diagnosed cancer in Australian women, and early detection is very important as it increases a person’s chance of survival
A woman’s lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia is 1 in 7, and the average age of first diagnosis is 61 years of age.
Australia has one of the best breast cancer survival rates in the world. And while the incidence rate of people being diagnosed with breast cancer in the country is increasing, the mortality rate is decreasing as screening and awareness improve.