For Reality Star Kimmi Grant Scott, Breast Cancer Wasn’t the End — It Was a New Beginning
Since her college days, Kimmi Grant Scott has referred to herself as “God’s girl” — a moniker born out of a constant sense that she was divinely protected.
Little did the Love & Marriage: Huntsville star know that in 2022, her faith would be tested like never before. After casually running her hand across her right breast, Scott found a lump that was later diagnosed as triple-negative breast cancer — one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. Though the revelation gave way to a full week of shock and disbelief (she repeated and pronounced her full name on the phone when she received the call), her trust in God never wavered. “I was a hundred percent certain that He wouldn’t have allowed me to find my cancer where and when I found my cancer, if His goal was not to save me from my cancer,” she said.
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Scott, who is also a registered nurse, made the brave decision to document her journey for the OWN reality show. “One of the very first things I said when I was able to go back to filming was, ‘If I could reach one person and help save their life, that’s my goal,’” she recalled. Rising to the occasion, the TV star began using her platform to highlight breast cancer disparities in the Black community. After nearly a year of treatment, including chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, she survived the ordeal and emerged cancer-free.
In a way that only a “God’s girl” could, Scott found the purpose in her challenge: finally becoming the advocate her family and friends always knew she could be. “I feel like some of this, in all honesty, was destined to happen to help me be a better mouthpiece — to help me see that I can’t just keep sitting still and being quiet. There’s a lot of people that need to hear me.”
And hear Kimmi Grant Scott, we shall.
SheKnows: I want to talk about both the work that you’re doing now, but also a little bit about your journey — especially in hindsight. How are you feeling? I can’t even imagine the levels of gratitude you must feel these days.
Kimmi Grant Scott: The level of gratitude is literally remarkable. I believe that everything that has happened and transpired in my life to date was ordained. The people I met, the relationships that failed, the friendships that didn’t make it, everything happened for a particular reason, and I’m grateful for it.
SK: In hindsight, you being a registered nurse wasn’t a coincidence either, right? I’m sure your diagnosis gave you a whole new sense of purpose as a clinician. Talk to me a little bit about being fortunate enough to have a medical team that acted quickly and the knowledge that this does not happen for every Black woman.
KGS: I think being a clinician was kind of a double-edged sword for me, because in some regards, you know too much and you’re worrying before it’s actually time to worry. But being in the healthcare field and feeling very comfortable with having a voice for myself was extremely beneficial.
I actually made my radiologist do an MRI of my brain. I fainted on the table one day—literally passed out on the table—and they didn’t know why. I said, ‘Well, you know cancer can go to your brain.’ And he was like, ‘No, I’m sure that’s not it.’ But I said, ‘What we’re going to do is an MRI of my brain. And you’re going to document that I passed out twice on the table. Insurance will pay for it. No harm, no foul.’ But there are a lot of people who wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that.
SK: I saw this statistic that Black women are 41 percent more likely to die from breast cancer. The disparities with Black women and the way we are treated in healthcare emergencies is astounding.
KGS: I know.
SK: Going through the experience as both a patient and a clinician, is there anything you’ve learned that could possibly save another Black woman’s life?
KGS: A lot of it is in regard to access and information. A lot of people don’t have access to get mammograms. A lot of people don’t realize when they should start getting mammograms. A lot of people are scared to talk about mammograms. Since this has come about, I’ve gotten so many DMs and emails from people who actually feel a lump in their breasts, but don’t want to go [get a mammogram] because they’re scared. So I’m like, ‘I hear what you’re saying, but ignoring the lump is not gonna be the answer here.’ There’s a lot of education that I think needs to come along with women of color and breast cancer. And that’s part of my new platform.
SK: That leads me right into your choice to work with these very specific charities that are led by people of color: Sisters Network Inc and the Ora Lee Foundation. Talk to me a little bit about these organizations.
KGS: Initially, with the Ora Lee Foundation, my husband went to Alabama A&M, so he was the one who actually introduced me to the research that Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green has done in regards to curing cancer. So of course, we were like, ‘We’re going to give to that foundation.’ Financially, she needs the money in order to go to the next phase.
With Sisters Network Inc., I ran across them when I was going through breast cancer and doing some research on people in the area. My goal — it’s no secret — is to focus on women of color. And that’s not to say that other people aren’t affected, because breast cancer does not play favorites. That’s not what we’re saying. What we’re saying is that at the moment, African-Americans are disproportionately affected and even more so by triple negative breast cancer. And that is the focus of Sisters Network, Inc. They also do a good job at education, access to mammograms, early detection and having a voice for yourself. So both of them spoke to me.
SK: You also had your “Bowling for Boobies” event return for the second year. One of the big changes was moving the event to April — to bring breast cancer awareness another month besides October. Tell me more about that choice and any other upgrades that were made for the second year.
KGS: We did the first one in October, and in all honesty, we started planning [the second one] for October 2023 as well. We reserved the bowling alley and everything. And the more we thought about it, I really wanted it to be more meaningful to my journey, which was completed last April. I was finished with my chemotherapy, I finished my surgery, I convalesced well and I finished my radiation. My last day of radiation when I rang the bell was on April 13. So we chose April 13 because that was the day that I was cancer-free. It was under the belief that breast cancer awareness and the urgency of what we need to do is all-year-long. It’s not just in October.
SK: When I watched the highlights on the show from your journey, I wondered if maybe you look at strength any differently now. What have you learned about the very concept of strength after going through something that was not easy to go through?
KGS: Every time I have an interview or conversation and somebody brings up the question of strength, it actually makes me a little tearful. And the reason is because this journey taught me I’m way stronger than I thought I was — and I already thought I was a strong chick. Believe me, I’ve never thought of myself as weak. I was a single parent. I got through college. I got through grad school. I raised my kid without issues; he got through college in four years. But getting through [cancer] mentally first and foremost, is the biggest battle. And then physically, I felt like I was so much stronger than I ever gave myself credit for. There’s legit nothing that can come my way that’s going to shake me. Absolutely nothing.
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