Morning Show Legend Joan Lunden, Who Beat Breast Cancer 10 Years Ago, Is Raising Awareness For The Disease After Celebrating Her Loved Ones’ Birthdays

“Your generosity and support mean the world to us. Because of you, we can continue funding life-saving research and improving the lives of women facing breast cancer. Together, we are making a difference—one step closer to a cure.”

Fans responded to the photo Lunden shared by praising her for looking great in her 70s, with one writing, “I’m sure you captivated the audience I thought this was a throwback photo! You look great,” and another commenting, “So fabulous.”

RELATED: For Women Like Katie Couric, New Study Reveals That Changes in Breast Density Can Raise The Risk For Cancer; Know When & How To Get Crucial Screenings

“Thank you for sharing your story and important advice for women,” wrote another fan.

The event comes just weeks after Lunden celebrated the birthdays of her husband Jeff Konigsberg and daughter Lindsay.

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Lunden, who worked as the co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America” between 1980 and 1997 and has written 12 books, shared a heartwarming photo of Jeff and Lindsay on Instagram, writing, “Happy Birthday to two of the loves of my life – my hubby Jeff and my fabulous daughter Lindsay! I love you both so much!”

In another sweet post on March 7, she wrote, “Happy Birthday to the love of my life, my hubby, Jeff Konigsberg. You had me at hello.”

Lunden is also mom to Jamie, Sarah, Kate, Max, Kimberly and Jack—and having a large family is certainly something that has made the TV journalists life an eventful one.

She told Closer Weekly in an earlier interview, “It’s energizing to me. I’m a person who just has always taken on life at full speed. So I think that I was wise in my choice.”

Lunden shares her three eldest daughters with her former husband Michael A. Krauss, whom she divorced in 1992. She later married Jeff in 2000 and welcomed twins Max and Kate in 2003, followed by more twins, Jack and Kimberly in 2005.

In an earlier interview with Closer she admitted that cancer changed her, explaining, “You have a better understanding of the true love and compassion and support that come from friends and family.”

We’re delighted to see Lunden still making time and celebrating the lives of her family members.

WATCH: One cancer survivor’s incredible story detailing the value of milestones.

Joan Lunden’s Breast Cancer Journey

In 2014, Lunden was diagnosed with stage 2 triple-negative breast cancer, which means her cancer was not being fueled by any of the three main types of receptors: estrogen, progesterone, or the HER2 protein.

Since triple-negative breast cancer is constantly unresponsive to certain targeted therapies, including hormone therapy or HER2-targeted agents like Herceptin, chemotherapy is typically the treatment and there are several options.

“Any triple-negative cancer that’s over half a centimeter or has lymph node involvement needs chemotherapy,” Dr. Julie Nangia, medical oncologist at Baylor College of Medicine said.

Triple-negative breast cancer is an aggressive form of the disease and if the cancer is advanced, your doctor may also recommend participation in a clinical trial that involves immunotherapy or targeted therapies.

“She went through chemo and if I couldn’t be at a session, Joan’s girls would be there. It’s all about the support, it’s about the family, it’s about the community, it’s about loved ones,” her supportive husband Jeff Konigsberg previously said, while detailing Lunden’s breast cancer treatment.

Meanwhile, in an earlier interview with SurvivorNet, Lunden shared that she knew little about breast cancer before she was diagnosed with it.

WATCH: Joan Lunden Ages With Candor

“Candidly,” Lunden said. “I never thought I would be one of the women who would get breast cancer.”

“The fact that I didn’t understand the significance of dense breast tissue kind of just lit a fire in me and sent me on this mission to say, ‘Here I am a journalist, and how could I have been so uneducated about something so incredibly important,” she explained.

WATCH: Joan Lunden Helps Best-selling author Laura Mortons Through Cancer

Understanding Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of the disease and makes up for approximately 20 percent of all breast cancers. The treatment approach varies from patient to patient and may include a combination of different treatments.

Early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) treatments may use a combination of chemotherapy drugs.

Understanding Triple Negative Breast Cancer

For example, a CMF regimen is an abbreviation for combining chemotherapy drugs cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil. AC stands for doxorubicin (Adriamycin) with cyclophosphamide, and ACT just indicates that a taxane drug is added to the regimen. Likewise, TC is an abbreviation for a regimen of Taxotere and cyclophosphamide.

RELATED: In Triple Negative Breast Cancer, New Drug Trodelvy Extends Life

In 2021, the FDA approved the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab for the treatment of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is already used to treat other cancers, including melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Doctors heralded the FDA’s approval of pembrolizumab as a potentially paradigm-shifting advancement in breast cancer treatment.

For patients with stage 2 or 3 TNBC, adding the immune-boosting medication pembrolizumab to combination chemotherapy before surgery increases chances of living free of breast cancer, explains oncologist Dr. Sylvia Adams, director of the Breast Cancer Center at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center.

She was one of several researchers involved with the pembrolizumab trials. “It changes the standard of care and should be discussed with all patients diagnosed with stage 2-3 TNBC,” she adds. “Yes, it’s a game-changer, though there is much more to be learned.”

The First Immunotherapy Approved For Breast Cancer Hope For Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Until recently, researchers hadn’t had much success using the therapy to fight breast cancer. That’s changing now. The IMpassion130 trial showed for the first time that a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy had a significant effect in treating metastatic triple negative breast cancer. Triple negative breast cancer is an extremely aggressive form of the disease, so this discovery is important.

Dr. Sylvia Adams explains, “The question now becomes, is it only triple negative breast cancer that can benefit from immunotherapy, or are there other subtypes as well?

“If a tumor has the PD-L1 protein in it, that means there’s already an inflammatory response, that the patient’s immune system already recognized the tumor and was starting to work against it. The benefit of identifying such a strong biomarker in the triple negative subset will allow us to actually test for the presence and responsiveness to immunotherapy in other subtypes of breast cancer.”

What to Know About Screening For Breast Cancer

The medical community has a consensus that women between 45 and 54 have annual mammograms. However, an independent panel of experts called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is saying that women should start getting mammograms every other year at the age of 40, suggesting that this lowered the age for breast cancer screening could save 19% more lives.

For women aged 55 and older, the American Cancer Society recommends getting a mammogram every other year. However, women in this age group who want added reassurance can still get annual mammograms.

Women who have a strong family history of breast cancer, have dense breasts, have a genetic mutation known to increase the risk of breast cancer, such as a BRCA gene mutation, or a medical history, including chest radiation therapy before age 30, are considered at higher risk for breast cancer.

Experiencing menstruation at an early age (before 12) or having dense breasts can also put you into a high-risk category. If you are at a higher risk for developing breast cancer, you should begin screening earlier.

Breast density is determined through mammograms. However, women with dense breasts are at a higher risk for developing breast cancer because dense breast tissue can mask potential cancer during screening. 3D mammograms, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, and molecular breast imaging are options for women with dense breasts for a more precise screening. It is important to ask your doctor about your breast density and cancer risk.

Although breast cancer can happen to anyone, certain factors can increase a person’s risk of getting the disease. The known risk factors for breast cancer include:

• Older age
• Having a gene mutation such as the BRCA1 or BRCA2
• Added exposure to estrogen
• Having children after the age of 30
• Exposure to radiation early in life
• Family history of the disease

Different types of genetic testing can help people with a family history of cancer better ascertain their cancer risks. Your doctor will discuss your family history of cancer with you in the context of your type of tumor and your age at diagnosis. Hereditary genetic testing is usually done with a blood or saliva test.

The second test involves the genetic sequencing of your tumor if you’ve been diagnosed with cancer by this point. These genetic changes can be inherited, but most arise during a person’s lifetime. This process usually involves examining a biopsy or surgical specimen of your tumor. This testing can lead to decisions on drugs that might work against your cancer

About ten percent of breast cancers are hereditary, says Dr. Ophira Ginsburg, Director of the High-Risk Cancer Program at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center.

“We encourage only those who have a family history to really get [genetic testing],” Dr. Ginsburg previously told SurvivorNet.

“I would say that if you have anyone in your family who was diagnosed with a very rare cancer. Or if you have a strong family history of one or two kinds of cancer, particularly breast and ovarian, but also colon, rectal, uterine, and ovarian cancer, that goes together in another cancer syndrome called the Lynch Syndrome,” Dr. Ginsburg adds.

Enhanced Screening for Dense Breasts

Women with dense breasts may not know they have it based on feeling alone. Breast density is determined by its appearance on a mammogram. Dr. Connie Lehman, the chief of the Breast Imaging Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, explains to SurvivorNet that fatty breast tissue appears gray on an X-ray. Conversely, dense breast structures appear white during an X-ray. Cancers also appear white on an X-ray, meaning the dense breast structures can mask the possibility of cancer. Luckily, advanced mammograms exist to help doctors navigate this obstacle.

WATCH: 3D Mammograms explained.

“Digital mammography, it turns out, significantly improves the quality of the mammogram…It’s 3D or tomosynthesis mammography,” Dr. Lehman explains.

“This allows us to find more cancers and to significantly reduce our false-positive rate. With digital mammography 3D tomosynthesis, we’re taking thin slices through that breast tissue, like slices of a loaf of bread. We can look at each slice independently rather than trying to see through the entire thickness of the entire loaf of bread. So those thin slices help us find things that were hidden in all the multiple layers,” Dr. Lehman adds.

Additional testing can be considered for dense breasts, depending on a woman’s personal history, preferences, and her physician’s guidance. These tests include:

• 3-D Mammogram (Breast Tomosynthesis): This technology acquires breast imaging from multiple angles and digitally combines them into a 3D representation of the breast tissue. This allows physicians to see breast tissue architecture better, even in dense breasts. 3D mammograms are fast becoming the standard way of performing mammography.
• Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): An MRI machine uses magnets to create highly detailed, intricate images of the breast. These are mostly reserved for women with an extremely high breast cancer risk. Dense breasts alone may not be a valid reason to obtain a breast MRI. However, dense breasts in women with genetic mutations, like BRCA1 and BRCA2, or a strong family history of breast cancer could justify obtaining breast MRIs.
• Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI): MBI is a newer imaging technique that uses a radioactive tracer to detect breast cancer. It is beneficial for women with dense breasts. However, MBI is not as widely available as other screening methods.

A new rule from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that facilities offering mammograms must notify patients about their breast tissue density and recommend they speak with a doctor to determine if further screening is necessary. There will be “uniform guidance” on what language to use and what details to share with the patient to make the communication clear and understandable.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

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