Fans are rejoicing as Los Angeles native Christina Applegate returns (with co-star, Linda Cardellini) in season 2 of her popular Netflix series, “Dead to Me.” Applegate is also known for her roles in Bad Moms and Anchorman 2 The Legend. Like Applegate, her character, Jen Harding has had a double mastectomy. The TV series actress, 48, was influential in convincing the show’s producers
Read MoreWhat Is DCIS Breast Cancer?
In real life, Applegate’s breast cancer was detected in 2008 by an MRI which revealed she had Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS). Classified as stage 0 breast cancer and defined by abnormal cells line the milk ducts in the breast, DCIS is not an invasive cancer. Standard treatment includes surgery — either a lumpectomy or mastectomy — and radiation, in some instances, because some DCIS cancers can evolve into a more aggressive form of the disease. Dr. Elizabeth Comen, Medical Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on genetic testing for breast cancer.She opted for a double mastectomy, a decision that was difficult, but allowed her to be “done with the whole thing,” she told PEOPLE at the time.
Applegate believes the MRI was the key to catching her cancer early. “An MRI saved my life,” she says. “I felt very grateful for this incredible imaging because, oftentimes, mammograms don’t show cancer until many years after it had already been growing,” she told NPR’s Terry Gross. To raise awareness of MRI screenings for women at increased risk of breast cancer, she founded Right Action for Women a nonprofit that helps offset the increased cost of MRIs.
Genetic Testing: The Breast-Ovarian Cancer Link
Because breast cancer runs in Applegate’s family, she began getting screening mammograms at age 30. “My mom had both breast cancer and ovarian cancer, and she’s BRCA. My cousin passed away right after my surgery from ovarian cancer; she was BRCA. Your chances of getting ovarian cancer when you’re BRCA are 50%, and your chances of recurrence of breast cancer is somewhere between 75% and 80%,” she told NPR’s Fresh Air.
Applegate opted for a double mastectomy, telling PEOPLE at the time, she made the difficult decision in order to be "done with the whole thing."
Dr. Michael Birrer, Senior Scientist of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB says genetic testing helps determine a treatment plan for ovarian cancer.
She resisted the idea of genetic testing, despite her doctors’ urging. “And then it hit me one day – I didn’t want to be living in that kind of fear forever. I still get checked up all the time. But it was the right thing for me to do.”
When testing confirmed she had the BRCA1 gene mutation, Applegate decided to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as well. However, in the years between her breast cancer diagnosis and her decision to remove her ovaries, she gave birth to her daughter, Sadie, in 2011.
“The chances that my daughter is BRCA positive are very high,” she told TODAY. “I'm doing everything I can on my end knowing that in 20 years, she'll have to start getting tested," the actress said. "Hopefully, by then, there will be advancements. It breaks my heart to think that's a possibility.
The Emotional Journey that Comes with a Breast Cancer Experience
Applegate remained deliberately upbeat after going public with her breast cancer in 2008, but later realized she was denying some very real feelings about her mastectomy — feelings she conveys through her “Dead to Me” character.
RELATED: Christina Applegate Remembers How Humor Got Her Through Breast Cancer
“It’s an amputation. And you physically and emotionally go through so much when you lose a part of you, especially a part of you that defines you as a female.” Even reconstruction, she notes, becomes a reminder of drastic changes to her body.
She also missed the opportunity to breastfeed her infant daughter. “That was sad,” she recalls. “That experience was something that I will never be able to have. But had I not had the surgery, I wouldn’t have had a child ’cause I would not be alive. So it all kind of was OK.”
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