Miranda McKeon Thrives On The Other Side Of Treatment
- Anne with an E star Miranda McKeon, 20, was diagnosed with breast cancer on June 14, 2021. She then underwent eight rounds of chemotherapy, a preventative double mastectomy, surgery to remove all of her lymph nodes and a piece of skin on her left breast and proton therapy for treatment. She was deemed cancer-free on Feb. 25, 2022.
- McKeon took the time to reflect on her cancer journey on the anniversary of her finding the lump that led to her breast cancer diagnosis. She says anniversaries, for her, are “a time for reflection, gratitude, mourning, and celebration.”
- Breast cancer is a common cancer that has been the subject of much research, so there are many treatment options out there. Mammograms, a standard screening procedure for breast cancer, and self breast exams can save lives.
- A cancer diagnosis can change your life. But as we've seen in the case of McKeon, you can thrive on the other side of treatment.
After completing treatment for a breast cancer cancer diagnosis that came when she was just 19 years old, McKeon is just trying to live her best life. In a recent Instagram post, the actress shared more details about first noticing her breast cancer lump on the event’s anniversary.
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That’s when McKeon “started panicking” because her mind went immediately to cancer. She then had her friend come into the bathroom to help her assess the situation.
“We went down a Google rabbit hole frantically trying to solve the case,” McKeon wrote. “It felt equivalent to handing infant baboons a computer and telling them they had 30 minutes to solve climate change.”
After a somewhat “inconclusive search,” McKeon went to bed and cried herself to sleep.
“My gut was screaming that something was wrong,” she wrote of that moment.
Now, a year later, McKeon wanted to take the time for reflection as she spends a lovely vacation with a friend in St. Tropez.
“Today, a year ago since that night, I have a chest vacant of anything but silicone implants, hair extensions that cover what would probably be a pretty awkward hair style, and I begin the first of many anniversary's,” she wrote. “Anniversary's to me are a time for reflection, gratitude, mourning, and celebration.”
She went on to say that life was a “crazy” thing. So, the fan of Snoop Dogg, left her followers with a quote from the famed rapper that resonated with her on the anniversary.
“‘Last but not least, I want to thank me,'” she quoted. “‘I want to thank me for believing in me, I want to thank me for doing all this hard work. I wanna thank me for having no days off. I wanna thank me for never quitting. I wanna thank me for always being a giver and trying to give more than I receive. I wanna thank me for trying to do more right than wrong. I wanna thank me for being me at all times, Snoop Dogg you a bad motherf**ker.'”
Miranda McKeon’s Breast Cancer Journey
McKeon was diagnosed with breast cancer on June 14, 2021. For treatment, she underwent eight rounds of chemotherapy, a preventative double mastectomy and surgery to remove all of her lymph nodes and a piece of skin on her left breast.
Then, most recently, she had 25 rounds of radiation in the form of proton therapy. Thankfully, her grueling treatment regimen paid off because she was deemed cancer-free on Feb. 25, 2022.
Proton therapy is a relatively new form of radiation that does have its advantages, but it's generally more expensive than other treatment alternatives. It tends to work best for patients whose cancer has not yet spread to other parts of the body. The biggest advantage of this kind of radiation is that it minimizes damage to healthy cells since the protons stop at the target, compared to x-rays which continue to pass through the body and leave an exit dose.
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Still, there is some debate about whether proton therapy is really necessary given its cost and limited availability for large portions of the country. Dr. Keith Cengel, a radiation oncologist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, says x-ray or traditional photon radiation "are pretty darn good" for small, early stage lung cancers, but he did not comment on proton therapy for breast cancer.
Proton Therapy: When Is Expensive Cancer Treatment Really Worth it?
"As the technology gets better, we're going to get to a point where you can deliver protons the same way as you deliver regular X-rays in every small town in America, potentially," he said in a previous interview with SurvivorNet.
Understanding Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is a common cancer that has been the subject of much research. Many women develop breast cancer every year, but men can develop this cancer too though it is more rare, in part, due to the simple fact that they have less breast tissue.
There are many treatment options for people with this disease, but treatment depends greatly on the specifics of each case. Identifying these specifics means looking into whether the cancerous cells have certain receptors. These receptors the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor and the HER2 receptor can help identify the unique features of the cancer and help personalize treatment.
"These receptors, I like to imagine them like little hands on the outside of the cell, they can grab hold of what we call ligands, and these ligands are essentially the hormones that may be circulating in the bloodstream that can then be pulled into this cancer cell and used as a fertilizer, as growth support for the cells," Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
The Unique Features of Breast Cancer: Deciding the Right Course of Treatment
One example of a type of ligand that can stimulate a cancer cell is the hormone estrogen, hence why an estrogen receptor positive breast cancer will grow when stimulated by estrogen. For these cases, your doctor may offer treatment that specifically targets the estrogen receptor. But for HER2 positive breast cancers, therapies that uniquely target the HER2 receptor may be the most beneficial.
Thriving as a Survivor
A cancer diagnosis can change your life. But as we've seen in the case of Miranda McKeon, you can thrive on the other side of treatment.
Take Marecya Burton, for example. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at just 20 years old. Burton was a college student-athlete looking forward to graduation at the time, but all that had to change when she was forced to move home to start treatment.
Former College Cheerleader Reinvents Herself After Surviving Ovarian Cancer
"That was definitely challenging for me," Burton said in a previous interview with SurvivorNet. "I was looking forward to graduating."
She also had planned on pursuing a law degree after graduation another dream she had to give up.
"I really had to, in a sense, put my life on hold," she said. "Sometimes I look at where I am, and I can't help but wonder, would I be further had I not had my diagnosis?"
But instead of law school, Burton found a new passion: teaching. She became a high school teacher in Baltimore, Maryland, and she's since made peace with her new direction in life.
"I wouldn't change my career for the world," she says. "It's so fulfilling."
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