Marcia Cross Reflects on the Fragility of Life
- In a new Instagram post, actress Marcia Cross shares her thoughts on how precious and fragile life is.
- Cross was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2017; she says her disease was HPV-related.
- Before being officially diagnosed, the actress underwent two biopsies and a colonoscopy after her doctor felt something unusual during a routine exam.
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Marcia’s Anal Cancer Battle
Marcia Cross was diagnosed with anal cancer in November 2017, following a routine check-up at the gynecologist. During a digital rectal exam, her doctor felt something unusual, so Cross was directed to a clinic to get it checked out. After two biopsies and one colonoscopy, it was revealed she had colon cancer.
Cross has spoken candidly about her anal cancer journey and treatment side effects. "The side effects are so gnarly," Cross tells Coping magazine. "I will say that when I had my first chemo treatment, I thought I was doing great. And then out of nowhere, I felt this sting in my lip; it was excruciating. It was from the chemo."
Cross has said that her anal cancer was HPV-related. In an earlier interview with SurvivorNet, she says, "It was, in fact, HPV-related anal cancer. So I didn't have any symptoms. Never had an irregular pap smear. I had never heard of HPV until my husband. We both probably carried it for most of our lives. I think there's just a vast lack of knowledge about HPV and how it's spread, how we carry it, what happens to it when you have it."
Anal cancer is fairly rare, says the American Cancer Society (ACS); it’s less common than colon and rectum cancers. The ACS estimates that in 2021, there will be approximately 9,090 new cases of anal cancer diagnosed. This disease affects women more than men; it’s estimated that 6,070 in women will be diagnosed with anal cancer this year, and 3,020 men.
Coping with a Cancer Diagnosis
For people like Marcia Cross who are diagnosed with cancer, it can feel scary and overwhelming. Many people experience myriad complicated emotions after their diagnosis. Some may feel anxiety, stress, grief and even depression.
Related: The Value of Using a Social Worker During Treatment
Dr. Scott Irwin of Cedars-Sinai says in an earlier interview, “Depression is a really interesting topic, because a lot of people assume that, oh, they have cancer. They must be depressed. That’s actually not true. 85% of patients do not get what would be considered a clinical depression. 15% do.”
Related: Learn to Accept Yourself A Huge Part of Living With Cancer
“For prescribing medications for depression in the context of cancer, I often try to choose medications with the lowest side effect profile,” explains Dr. Iriwn. “If patients are getting hormonal therapy, there’s particular antidepressants that we can’t use, because they may lower the effectiveness of that hormonal therapy. And so we choose antidepressants that don’t impact the cancer care. Depression and stress make it harder to treat cancer, make it harder to tolerate the treatments.”
Treating Depression After a Cancer Diagnosis
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