Ananda Lewis, a staple of MTV’s golden period, died this week after a prolonged battle with breast most cancers. She was 52.
Within the years main as much as her demise, the beloved TV persona stirred controversy by choosing various therapies as a substitute of a doctor-recommended double mastectomy — a call she stood by till the tip, although not with out some regrets.
“Do everything in your power to avoid my story becoming yours,” Lewis wrote in a candid essay for Essence revealed in January, reflecting on the alternatives she made each throughout her sickness and lengthy earlier than most cancers entered her life.
Lewis found a lump in her proper breast whereas showering in December 2018. It was barely bigger than a pea and positioned the place she’d typically skilled mastitis whereas breastfeeding her son.
The previous MTV Video jockey and TV host hoped it was nothing — however a biopsy the next month revealed stage III breast most cancers that had already unfold to her lymph nodes.
“For a really long time, I have refused mammograms, and that was a mistake,” Lewis shared on Instagram when she went public together with her analysis in October 2020.
“If I had done the mammograms from the time they were recommended, when I turned 40, they would have caught the tumor in my breast years before I caught it through my own self-exam,” she continued.
Regardless of the superior stage, Lewis selected to face the analysis her manner.
“My approach in life is to deal with things head-on as they happen,” she wrote in Essence. “So instead of panicking, I made a game plan.”
After seeing her mom and cousin undergo conventional most cancers therapy, she turned down docs’ recommendation to endure surgical procedure to take away each her breasts, together with potential chemotherapy and radiation.
“My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body,” Lewis informed CNN in an October 2024 interview. “I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body in a different way.”
She later admitted she had doubts about her determination. “Looking back on that, I go, ‘You know what? Maybe I should have,’” she stated.
As an alternative, she dove into analysis and overhauled her way of life, specializing in weight loss plan, detoxes and pure therapeutic.
“My goal was to do things that supported my body’s ability to continue to be whole enough to heal, instead of destroying it up front,” Lewis wrote in Essence.
She obtained month-to-month ultrasounds from a breast surgeon to trace the tumor and dedicated to a mixture of various therapies, together with high-dose vitamin C IVs, hyperbaric chamber periods, qigong, vitality work and prayer.
Progress was regular — till the COVID-19 pandemic hit. California shut down, and Lewis may now not entry her therapies or scans. “By the summer of 2020, I felt the tumor growing again,” she wrote.
With restricted choices in California, she traveled to Arizona, the place medical clinics remained open. There, she underwent 16 weeks of integrative therapy, together with acupuncture, cryoablation, and low-dose chemo.
The outcomes had been promising: her most cancers dropped from stage III to stage II, it cleared from her lymph nodes, and her tumor shrank.
However the fee was steep. With out insurance coverage, Lewis couldn’t sustain the therapies again house and needed to pause look after greater than two years whereas supporting herself and her son.
By October 2023, her most cancers had progressed to stage IV.
She re-entered therapy at an integrative clinic in Southern California. After 12 weeks, by January 2024, her situation had improved considerably. However the toll of years with out constant care weighed on her.
“Am I in the clear? No,” she wrote. “But I could have ended up here no matter what route I took, because I didn’t come in with the resources that I needed to stay the course the whole time.”
Medical doctors typically advise in opposition to skipping surgical procedure for breast most cancers — particularly in earlier levels.
“In stage I to III breast cancer, which is curable, there’s no scenario that we can skip surgery altogether,” Dr. Stephanie Downs-Canner, a breast surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering, informed Well being.
Analysis constantly exhibits that girls who refuse surgical procedure have decrease five-year survival charges and usually tend to die from the illness.
Nonetheless, Lewis remained agency in her convictions.
“I understand that people don’t get it,” she informed host Shameika Rhymes on Soulibration in October 2024. “I still feel like I did the right thing. I need women to learn from my mistakes. I need them to learn from my victories.”
Lewis additionally stated she regretted ignoring components she now believes contributed to her sickness — from power stress to poor diet and skipped screenings.
“If I had known what I know now 10 years ago, perhaps I wouldn’t have ended up here,” she wrote in Essence. “I would’ve been doing all the things I’ve been forced to do now, to keep my body from creating more cancer and remove what it has already made.”
She urged ladies to handle stress, sleep properly, keep energetic, get sufficient vitamin D, hydrate, eat clear and keep away from environmental toxins.
“Increase your knowledge about how to prevent getting here in the first place,” Lewis wrote. “Prevention is the real cure.”
Breast most cancers is the most typical most cancers amongst US ladies after pores and skin most cancers, with one in eight anticipated to develop it of their lifetime. Charges are rising, particularly amongst youthful ladies and those that are Asian American or Pacific Islander, based on the American Most cancers Society (ACS).
Regardless of main advances in therapy and early detection, breast most cancers stays the second main reason behind most cancers demise amongst ladies — behind solely lung most cancers.
Black ladies are disproportionately affected, going through increased mortality charges at all ages.
In 2025, the ACS expects 316,950 new circumstances of invasive breast most cancers might be recognized within the US, and 42,170 ladies will die from the illness.
Most main medical teams advocate ladies at common threat begin annual mammograms at 40, based on breastcancer.org.
These at increased threat — as a result of household historical past, genetics, or different components — are typically suggested to start annual mammograms at 30 and breast MRIs between ages 25 and 35.
