Last week early 2000s TV personality Ananda Lewis announced that her cancer had advanced to stage IV after going against her doctor's recommendation to have a double mastectomy [click here if you missed that].
Ananda clarifies that she is happy with her decision...
"What I would like to clarify is that last year … last year October is when all the craziness started happening in my body. That’s when things got worse, that’s when I got elevated, I guess, to a stage IV,” Lewis, 51, said during a Wednesday, October 16, interview on Soulibration on BlackDoctor.org. “Those things sound scary to people, I get it. That was a year ago. Today I am fantastic.”
One day later, Lewis said she’s “grateful” that her previous comments “opened up a lot of conversations that people don’t want to have.” She added, “We have to be more open to people making choices that work for them and being OK with it.”
“I still feel like I did the right thing. I need women to learn from my mistakes,” she said. “I need them to learn from my victories. I need them to learn from my fortitude that you can be OK. Any way you can be OK. Even if you die, you can be OK because everyone is going to confront that at some point in their lives. This is much more about how you want to live.”
Lewis said her “biggest mistake” was not receiving a mammogram. (While sharing her diagnosis in 2020, Lewis said she had refused mammograms for years because of a fear of radiation.)
"I still am on the fence about mammograms,” she said, before adding, “I’m gonna rephrase that. My biggest mistake was not staying on top of early detection. I could have used 3D ultrasound.”
While her mom pursued a “full conventional” path for treatment, Lewis wanted guidance for herself on “what else is possible.”
Now Lewis said she’s “happy” with her decision to refuse a mastectomy. “You just have to go with what works with your life,” she said. “That’s what I’m doing. It’s working for my life. I am more joyful. I am more myself. I am more buoyant. I know what I can survive now. I feel stronger than I’ve ever felt in my life. There are so many good things that have come from it, for me, from doing it this way.”
Lewis admitted that she “had some integration of conventional” approach as well. “I have done chemotherapy but tiny, micro amounts,” she said, adding that she has also undergone red light therapy and other treatments.
"I didn’t have surgery,” Lewis said. “I did make choices that I knew people were going to disagree with — people closest to me in my life disagreed with them when I was making them.”
For Lewis, it’s important that people “respect” one another’s decisions when it comes to their health. “We all got to make our own choices. I’m living with the consequences of mine,” she said.
“It might have been a mistake for me not to have surgery,” she continued. “I don’t know. I’m not going to go back, repeat that. Where I’m at now I’m fine with, and so whatever mistakes I’ve made, I’m in a great place.”
24 comments:
Either you want to live longer or you don't. You can experiment with nontraditional healing methods if you have Stage I cancer. Maybe. But Stage III requires that you bring out the big guns and knock it out. I believe in respecting other people's choices but hers sound like she's put together a halfassed combo of bits and pieces of pseudo semi-science. A lot of the research on treating breast cancer is in the books. You may not be lucky enough to live if you take advantage of it, but you definitely won't live if you don't.
Bravo! Your body. Your consequences. Your choice.
That is true for all of us.
Bravo!!!!! Godspeed and God continued blessings!!!!
I'm with her. People should do whatever they want with their bodies. I read where people were calling her stupid and selfish for choosing to go the natural route. That's no better than fat shaming or clowning a woman for getting a boob job. So unless you live in that person's body you can't dictate what's best for them. I refuse mammograms also because there's a lot of scientific info out there people don't want to share. Western medicine is quick to offer surgery and removal of body parts as a first option, which is a problem. Nothing wrong with following your own path because we see how this country treats sick people.
Good luck to her.
But is it, Ananda's decision alright or okay with the son she'll leave behind because of her misstep, or lack of doing whatever's necessary to fight the potentially deadly
monster notoriously called Cancer?
Yeah, it was her decision, but others have to deal with her decision and cope with her impending death.
This is the Best Time, BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH, to have this discussion, women.
She thought she was going to be the face of something new and unheard of. She f’cked around and found out.
At stage III of anything stop acting like you have the answers! She could have had real treatment and still did her other choices of holistic care.
The situation's extremely sad in way one views or studies it.
My aunt was diagnosed and they wanted her breast gone. She said hail no changed her diet and is living her best life yrs later. We gotta go back to the ancient and simple methods. It's been said many of these docs are just 'practicing' medicine.
True, many of these doctors are still studying under seasoned physicians.
But, to your point about your aunt: It indeed depends on what stage the cancer is in.
My aunt too survived breast cancer nearly 15 years ago, but it was at an early stage.
She's battling a different form of cancer now and I'm not sure she'll survive it this time. But, I'm hopeful as is she.
We all die and we're not supposed to live life for someone else. Her kids will be okay because if she got hit by a bus (heaven forbid) they'd still have to deal with her death. Why shame people for doing what they feel is best for them? It's not your life so what do you care? And for all we know, she could've had a discussion with her family and got everyone on board with her decision. We don't know what conversations they had so the need to criticize is silly and unnecessary since she can't go back in time. She needs to focus on the future and that's all that matters.
"If she got hit by a bus" would be an unforeseen circumstance where a decision like should I be wheelchair bound or allow myself to die probably wouldn't be under her control.
I swear, some of the comments on here one would have to see and read to believe how crazy they are.
So it's crazy that she could get hit by a bus, be faced with having multiple amputations in order to save her life and choose not to go that route? So I guess the ONLY time people can choose to live or die is when something happens that's under their control, huh? Here's a little secret. It's called having a CHOICE and making a DECISION, which is her RIGHT no matter how the circumstances unfold.
I swear some people are so short-sighted and small minded on here you'd have to actually read their comments to believe it.
PLEEEASE. You sound ridiculous with that "hit by a bus" analogy. If she had gotten "hit by a bus" she'd more likely than not would have NO CHOICE given she'd be comatosed or dead.
I swear, the silliness of it all, it's unreal.
She needs to spend as much time with her kids as possible. Enjoy the little time she has while still able to get around without assistance. I wouldn’t be on social media explaining nothing because other people’s opinions does have impact and speed up your illness.
LET'S JUST ALL WISH ANANDA LEWIS WELL & PRAY FOR HER CHILD, SHALL WE?
Her Body. Her Choice. The End.
I swear, some of y'all are as dumb as she is. Hell yes, she has regrets! She's just too arrogant to own up to the fact that she thought that she was too good to succumb to cancer. Like somehow, she'd be the one who could magically not treat it, and get away. She's not saying it's all good, she's just saying that she can't worry about it now, because it's already done. But I bet you any amount of money that if her lil' vain behind had the choice to go back and get her t.itties removed, she'd do it like yesterday. Y'all are playing yourselves if you think she doesn't know that she mucked up from top to bottom.
Brazilian Butt Lifts are the most dangerous plastic surgery. Period. But yall never kicking up a stink about women who choose to augment their bodies and risk dying, with or without having kids. Oh please. Leave Ananda TF alone.
Her body but I draw the line with her saying she want other women to know it’s ok to die and blah blah blah black women are the highest risks for breast cancer her message is WRONG! Idc idc idc I see us leaving here early due to preventable diseases because we as black ppl have some how got it in our heads that we are super humans remember when we was running around saying black ppl couldn’t get co——vid go to the doctor annually more if you have something going on take care of your bodies BEFORE BEFORE you get sick! You can do all that no conventional stuff like vitamins and plant roots before you get sick to PREVENT something but know that all the time does not work because of genetics and if you get sick go see about yourself but don’t go putting this false stuff about healing in the minds of other black ppl. I swear we the only group of ppl that ar literally unaliving ourselves and others with misinformation and Violence
First of all, Non one's attacking Ananda Lewis, & furthermore, there is ABSOLUTELY NO COMPARISON BETWEEN A POTENTIALLY DEADLY DISEASE & SELECTIVE COSMETIC SURGERY.
So when someone elect for augmentation surgery THAT IS THEIR CHOICE, & NO REASON FOR US TO "kick up a stink about".
I swear the comments on this story TODAY alone just shows how much people don't know what they think they know about one's choices & what just happens out of the clear friggin' blue in life.
Ananda clearly didn't have any real education or information about these nontraditional approaches to medicine that were stuck in her head. She was operating on half facts and feelings. There are informed people dealing with nontraditional medicine who could have advised her about the legitimacy of the choices she was making. Instead she went with her feelings and ended up facing death.
I wish her well. She made decisions and has likely prepared the family if she is speaking on it publicly.
This is one of those times where a celebrity should have chose the we ask for privacy at this time. Should’ve not been no interview to speak on this or anything if she wanted the world to know what she was facing. She simply should’ve just said she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she ask for privacy at this time
THAT'S NICE, BUT ANANDA LEWIS CAME FORWARD DURING BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH TO SPEAK OF HER CONDITION, CHOICE, & HOW IT DIDN'T WORK OUT LIKE SHE'D HOPED IT WOULD, AS WELL AS SPEAKING OF HOW SHE'LL MOVE FORWARD WITH THE TIME SHE HAS LEFT.
ANANDA LEWIS REVELALED HER HEALTH ORDEAL LAST YEAR AROUND THIS TIME, & I FOR ONE AM VERY GLAD THAT SHE HAD SO AS IT WOULD ENCOURAGE WOMEN WHO HAVE NATURAL BREASTS TO GET ANNUAL MAMMOGRAMS.
GOD BE WITH HER & HER SON DURING THIS TIME.
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