Taylor Swift's Mom: A Cancer Warrior
- Iconic singer-songwriter Taylor Swift embarked on her 2023 Eras Tour over the weekend with a 3-hour and 13-minute show.
- In her career, Taylor wrote and dedicated two songs to her mom’s battle with breast and brain cancer— “The Best Day” and “Soon You’ll Get Better.”
- Her 65-year-old mom Andrea Swift is a two-time breast cancer survivor following both a 2015 and 2019 diagnosis.
- In January 2020, the singer revealed her mother was battling a brain tumor that was found amid chemotherapy treatments.
- Taylor has expressed the difficult toll her mom’s cancer has taken on the family, and it’s important to know that caregivers need to take care of their own health and mental wellbeing to offer the best care for their loved ones.
According to USA Today, Taylor delighted “Swiftee” fans in her 3-hour and 13-minute show with a wide array of songs, starting with “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince.” Included in her set list were, “Cruel Summer,” “Fearless,” “You Belong With Me,” “Look What You Made Me Do,” “Enchanted,” and “Bad Blood.”
We can’t say for sure she won’t surprise an audience with one of these songs in the future, though, as she did previously admit she was unsure whether she would ever play one of her mom’s songs for a live audience.
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Speaking to a crowd during an acoustic performance at the Global Citizen’s “One World, Together At Home” concert, Taylor opened up about her most personal song titled “Soon You’ll Get Better.”
“That’s a song I don’t know if I’ll ever play it live. It’s just really difficult for me. It was hard to write. It’s hard to sing. It’s hard to listen to for me,” she told the audience.
Taylor also previously paid tribute to her mom with her lyrics video for “The Best Day,” a track on the album “Fearless (Taylor’s Version).”
The footage is a compilation of family photos and videos showing the decades-long bond between mother and daughter.
“The Best Day” video was so well-loved that Taylor walked away with the prize for Best Family Feature at the CMT Awards.
After receiving her award, she posted a victory message on Twitter, reading: “I LOVE YOU MOM!”
Taylor Swift’s Best Friend
In an earlier interview with Taste of Country, Taylor recounted how her mom was her closest friend as she was a young teen writing music.
“Remembering all the times that we had when she was my only friend when I was 13 and I couldn’t understand why my friends were being so mean to me,” she told the news outlet. “She would just take me on these adventures and we would drive around and go to towns we’d never seen before.”
The pair have continued to remain close, and back in 2015 — the year she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, Taylor’s mom presented her daughter with The Milestone Award at The Academy of Country Music Awards.
“I’ve watched this milestone artist from the time she was a tangled hair little girl growing up on our farm, full of imagination and creativity,” Andrea told the crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in what was her first public appearance since her cancer diagnosis.
“And ever since then, her favorite thing in the world to do has been to write a song, tell a story, play a guitar, or a piano,” Andrea said. “And I’ve seen those things carry her through every emotion, every experience in her life. Good or bad.”
She continued, “Every once in a while, her dad or I find ourselves to be the subject of those songs. Sometimes we’re merely the inspiration. Like the time she was 17 years old and her dad and I strongly disapproved of a young man, and rightfully so. But she was mad, she was real mad, and she went to her room and she closed the door. She came out about an hour later with a song called ‘Love Story.'”
Andrea Swift’s Cancer Journey
Taylor disclosed her mom’s first breast cancer diagnosis in a Tumblr announcement back in 2015.
“I’d like to keep the details of her condition and treatment plans private, but she wanted you to know,” the pop star wrote. “She wanted you to know because your parents may be too busy juggling everything they’ve got going on to go to the doctor, and maybe you reminding them to go get checked for cancer could possibly lead to an early diagnosis and an easier battle. Or peace of mind in knowing that they’re healthy and there’s nothing to worry about.”
Taylor later revealed that her mother was battling breast cancer once again in 2019, an experience which helped her learn not to sweat the small stuff.
“Both of my parents have had cancer, and my mom is now fighting her battle with it again,” Taylor wrote in Elle. “It’s taught me that there are real problems and then there’s everything else.”
Then, toward the latter part of January 2020, Taylor confirmed to Variety that her mom was battling another form of cancer.
“While she was going through treatment, they found a brain tumor. And the symptoms of what a person goes through when they have a brain tumor is nothing like what we’ve ever been through with her cancer before,” she told Variety. “So it’s just been a really hard time for us as a family.”
Breast Cancer Spreading to Other Areas
Fans are unaware of the exact details of Andrea’s case, but there are instances in which breast cancer can spread to the brain or other areas of the body — something known as a “metastatic brain tumor.”
Metastatic Breast Cancer: You Are Not a Statistic
While this diagnosis is certainly scary for anyone dealing with cancer, there are treatment options available.
Patients can undergo radiation therapy to the whole brain with or without surgery, radiation therapy to the whole brain with or without stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy in order to fight the tumor.
Metastatic brain tumors can also be linked to other cancers. In some cases of melanoma, the cancer can also spread to the brain as a tumor, however, Dr. Anna Pavlick, Professor of Medicine and Dermatology at NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center, tells SurvivorNet that treatment options are similar.
“We use very focused radiation, either stereotactic radiation or Gamma knife radiation, which is essentially 200 beams of radiation that will target just that tumor, and try to burn out that tumor so that we don’t affect the normal brain and the cognitive functioning of patients,” Dr. Pavlick explains, noting that radiation is rarely used for patients battling melanoma.
Cancer Caregivers Must Care for Themselves Too
While it is incredibly strenuous to be diagnosed with and treated for cancer, family members and friends who spend time caring for cancer patients also face their own type of challenges.
“Caregiving is the most important job in the universe because you are there through the highs and lows,” Julie Bulger, manager of patient and family-centered care at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, previously told SurvivorNet. “You are there to support your loved one, to manage all of the daily tasks as everything is changing in your life.”
Caregiver burnout – the stress, anger, fatigue, and illness that can come from putting another person’s needs ahead of your own – does exist. And it can affect you if you don’t take care of yourself.
Bulgar explained, “It is important to have some things that you can do outside of the focus of caring for somebody that you love with cancer.” She advises that caregivers go for walks or get massages, as an example of how to prevent this type of burnout from occurring.
Bulger also encourages caregivers to seek out a support group either online or in person, and see a therapist if they are struggling to cope with their new responsibilities.
“There’s so much evidence that outcomes are better when somebody has an incredible caregiver by their side,” added Bulger. Research also finds that caregivers who take good care of themselves provide the best quality of care. “So you are helping your loved one in more ways than you know,” said Bulgar.
Caregiving Isn’t Easy; Recognize That You May Need Help
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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