Sara Sidner Shares Update On Cancer Treatment, Will Be Out For A Few Weeks After Undergoing Double Mastectomy

CNN anchor Sara Sidner told viewers today that she will undergo a double mastectomy on Wednesday and will be away for the next few weeks as she recovers.

Earlier this year, Sidner said that she was being treated for stage three breast cancer, even as she continues in her network duties.

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“What I have learned so far in my cancer journey is treating it is more of a marathon than a sprint,” Sidner said this morning. “After five months of chemo, I have not yet become cancer free. The next phase is a double mastectomy.”

She added that a 2016 study found that the 10-year survival rate for a bilateral mastectomy is 90.3%. “I like those odds,” she said.

“We cannot wait for you to get back,” said co-anchor Kate Bolduan. Sidner, Bolduan and John Berman have co-anchored CNN News Central since April, 2023.

Earlier this year, Sidner said that “stage three is not a death sentence anymore for the vast majority of women, but here is the reality that really shocked my system when I started to research more about breast cancer, something I never knew before this diagnosis. If you happen to be a Black woman, you are 41% more likely to die from breast cancer than your white counterparts. Forty-one percent. So to all my sisters, Black and white and brown out there, please for the love of God get your mammogram every single year. Do your self exams. Try to catch it before I did.”

Sidner disclosed her diagnosis in an interview with People, in which she said, “I just made a decision. I’m like, ‘No, you’re going to live and you’re going to stop this and you’re going to do every single thing in your arsenal to survive this. Period.’ And I have been so much happier in my life since … I mean happier than I was before cancer.”

Sidner also serves as senior national correspondent, and has continued to work throughout her treatments.

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