How Beloved ‘Fashion Television’ Star, 70, Finds the Silver Linings Through Her Breast Cancer Battle: ‘I Want To Make People Less Afraid’

Speaking with Hello! Canada, Beker says of her cancer, “It’s an opportunity to prove to myself that I’m everything I always thought I was tenacious and fearless. It’s also an opportunity to raise awareness for a very important cause and to really touch people, and to have people touch me back. That has been the greatest gift of all.”

She continues, saying, “I just want to instill people with hope and optimism and positivity, and help make them less afraid.”

Beker’s Breast Cancer Journey

Beker has shared everything from her chemo sessions to time with her supportive partner, Iain MacInnes, through her breast cancer battle. She discovered her cancer through a routine mammogram.

Beker is treating her breast cancer with chemotherapy and surgery. Breast cancer surgery may mean a mastectomy or a lumpectomy.

 

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A mastectomy is the full or partial removal of a breast and it's used as a treatment for breast cancer. Other breast cancer treatments can include radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy.

It's important to undergo regular screenings for breast cancer. The current guidelines from the American Cancer Society (ACS) say that women aged 45 to 54 with a regular risk of breast cancer should get mammograms annually.

For women with an elevated risk of breast cancer (who have a family history of the disease or carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation), you should begin screening before age 45. Speak with family members about your family cancer history it could save your life.

Breast cancer is screened for via mammogram, which looks for lumps in the breast tissue and other signs of existing cancer or cancer in its earliest stages. If a worrisome lump is detected, your radiologist or doctor will advise you on the next steps, which typically include a breast biopsy.

What is a BRCA Mutation?

Staying Positive Through Cancer

Focusing on hope and maintaining a positive attitude through a cancer battle as Beker is doing can help. Anecdotal evidence from SurvivorNet experts points to how a positive mindset and gratitude can positively impact a cancer prognosis.

 

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One oncologist at Cedars-Sinai tells SurvivorNet in an earlier interview, "My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they're diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK. Now doesn't that mean I'm good at saying that the cancer won't grow," he says.

"But I'm pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life."

Stay Positive, It Matters

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