TV Journalist Anne Thompson, 68, Kept Cancer Battle Secret For a Year While Still on Air Wore Wigs and Fake Eyelashes to Cope With Hair Loss

"I didn't want to be the correspondent with cancer," Anne Thompson told the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Cancer patients need to know that sharing a diagnosis is a personal decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. Sometimes patients tell a close group of friends or family members they've been diagnosed with cancer, while others decide to share it more widely.

Your health is a deeply private matter, and it's up to you and you alone to determine who has the right and privilege to know about your diagnosis.

My new BFF at the ⁦@IndianapolisZoo⁩! pic.twitter.com/T6pfZ6EtJu

Anne Thompson (@annenbcnews) September 25, 2021

As for Thompson, most of her life has been in the public eye. Ironically, the day she learned she had breast cancer she was in the newsroom.

She received her 2006 diagnosis by voicemail after a routine exam detected a suspicious mass in her breast. The malignant mass turned out to be stage 3 estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

"Approximately 80% of breast cancers are estrogen receptor-positive," according to the World Journal of Biological Chemistry research. The stage means how far in your body the cancer has spread.

Thompson's treatment involved "intense chemotherapy to shrink the five-centimeter tumor before she had a lumpectomy with re-excision, followed by radiation," BCRF explained.

Chemotherapy during breast cancer involves drugs designed to kill cancer cells. The lumpectomy procedure Thompson underwent involved removing just the cancer and an area of healthy tissue around it.

Many women undergo radiation as part of their treatment, especially if they opt for a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy. Like chemotherapy, radiation treatment also kills cancer cells except it uses high-energy rays such as X-rays aimed at the cancer to get the job done.

After active treatment, Thompson began hormonal therapy with tamoxifen (commonly sold under the brand name Soltamox). Tamoxifen is a selective estrogen receptor modulator which means it works to prevent estrogen from helping cancer cells to grow.

It is also used to prevent breast cancer among women who are at high-risk for breast cancer because of family history.

"Estrogen is essentially a fertilizer for the cancer to grow. And what we want to do, in many instances, is block the ability of estrogen to stimulate a cancer cell," medical oncologist Dr. Elizabeth Comen previously explained to SurvivorNet.

"So how does tamoxifen work as an antagonist? What it does is for breast cancer cells, it blocks that keyhole like almost like putting a piece of gum into the keyhole so that when that receptor tries to reach out and grabs the estrogen and use it as that stimulus to grow, it can’t do that because the sticky gum is there. And so it’s called an antagonist for cancer cells," Dr. Comen continued.

WATCH: What is tamoxifen?

There are side effects associated with tamoxifen that may mimic menopause (like hot flashes), but they can be managed.

For women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, patients are typically put on the tamoxifen pill for five to 10 years and there is evidence that taking it for 10 years is more effective than taking it for five. In addition, it's a treatment that when taken alone or in combination with chemotherapy reduces the chance of having breast cancer spread.

Thompson decided to keep working through her treatment, but a new challenge arose when she began experiencing hair loss – a particularly difficult issue when her job was to be on camera for viewers.

Hair loss is tough for women and men alike, but it can be especially challenging for cancer patients. Losing your hair or seeing it thinning is often a side effect of some cancer treatments. For Thompson, whose livelihood is in front of television cameras losing her hair was especially pertinent.

"For cancer patients losing one's hair can be unbelievably stressful. To start with, the dread of losing one's hair can lead to some sleepless nights and feelings of anxiety," Dr. Samantha Boardman, a New York-based psychiatrist, and author, told SurvivorNet.

Although Thompson reduced her workload to focus on her health while battling breast cancer, she never stopped working completely.

"No matter how much you think 'I'm tough, and I'm strong,' it's really hard to lose your hair, and it was particularly hard for me because I kept working," Thompson said.

To get by, Thompson wore wigs while continuing to report the news.

"Chemo took my long blonde hair. I replaced it with two wigs, nicknamed 'mata hari' after the glamorous World War I spy. Chemo took my eyebrows. I replaced them with wax and powder. Then it took my eyelashes, so I wore false ones. But what it couldn't take what cancer could take was my desire to report. Or my desire to live," Thompson said in a column for MSNBC reported by Adweek.

She joked with Coping magazine that she “never really got the hang of false eyelashes.” And for her eyebrows, she used wax and powder to create fake ones.

Thompson kept her battle secret for a year, saying that keeping work a “cancer-free zone” made her “feel normal.”

But nine years after finishing treatment for her first bout with breast cancer, Thompson felt pain in her other breast one morning. She notified her doctor, who suspected cancer. The journalist would eventually learn she was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer this time around.

For women with HER2-positive breast cancer, meaning they have high levels of a protein called HER2 on the surface of their cancer cells, targeted treatments are available. The drugs trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) have transformed the outlook for some women.

Thompson underwent chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation plus Herceptin to treat the HER2-positive breast cancer.

"This time, quite frankly, I was annoyed. I had all kinds of career and life plans, and then I got cancer. But the good news was I had been through it all before and knew what to do," Thompson explained.

She also acknowledged the advancements in cancer treatment from her first diagnosis in 2006 and her second cancer diagnosis in 2015.

"It was amazing to me how much technology and surgery had improved in nine years. I still had to go through all the same things, but in some cases, they were easier and better," Thompson said.

At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with ⁦@NBCThisisUs⁩ Justin Hartley. 🏎🏎🏎 pic.twitter.com/4Qf7M7sMCa

Anne Thompson (@annenbcnews) May 11, 2019

After battling breast cancer, Thompson said the experience made her a "more compassionate person and reporter."

"For all cancer takes away, it also wakes you up to foolishness in your life. I'm a much lighter person now. I don't waste my time being unhappy in any part of my life," she said.

Should You Tell Others About Your Diagnosis?

Anne Thompson struggled with whether to share her cancer diagnosis with loved ones. The two-time breast cancer survivor explained her initial thought process for telling her family she had breast cancer.

"Her first instinct was to tell no one. But she eventually confided in her sister, Mary, and her younger brothers, Bill and Jim," Notre Dame Magazine reported.

"I didn't want to tell my mother, but eventually I had to," Thompson added.

Psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchik tells SurvivorNet that some people share their diagnosis widely with family, friends, and beyond and feel comfortable doing so.

"Other people are much more private about it," she says, "And there is no one right way to handle this diagnosis.”

"People should do what feels right to them," she said.

Coping With Hair Loss From Cancer Treatment

Anne Thompson managed her hair loss during cancer treatment by wearing wigs and artificial eyelashes. These options are available to all cancer patients experiencing this tough and emotional leg of their journey.

"For cancer patients losing one's hair can be unbelievably stressful. To start with, the dread of losing one's hair can lead to, some sleepless nights and feelings of anxiety," Dr. Samantha Boardman, a New York-based psychiatrist and author, told SurvivorNet.

Chemotherapy can cause hair loss. It usually begins about three to four weeks after beginning chemotherapy and continues throughout treatment.

It happens because this treatment targets quickly dividing cells throughout the body. That includes cancer cells, but also hair cells.

Radiation is another treatment that can lead to hair loss if the hair is in the path of the tumor being treated. Radiation for a brain tumor, for example, may cause hair loss on the head.

"If you do lose hair, it will regrow several weeks or months after treatment," radiation oncologist at GensisCare Dr. James Taylor told SurvivorNet.

"Fortunately, for most patients, hair loss is not a concern when having radiation therapy."

Most patients can expect regrowth around four to six weeks after they complete treatment. However, it is possible when your hair grows back you may notice some changes in its color and texture.

Dr. Boardman suggests connecting with others who are experiencing cancer treatment similar to yours and asking them for first-hand advice.

"Talk to people who have been through it, get their advice, voice your concerns to your caregiver, and see what they can do," Dr. Boardman added.

If losing your hair is a concern for you ahead of cancer treatment, know you have options like wigs, hats, wraps, and scarves, among other things, just as Thompson used.

According to the Mayo Clinic, there are currently no treatments that guarantee your hair won't fall out during or after chemotherapy. Still, some treatments like the following may help:

• Scalp cooling caps
• Minoxidil (Rogaine)

With scalp-cooling devices, they were approved by the FDA in recent years first in breast cancer and then in a number of other cancers.

Dr. Julie Nangia, a medical oncologist at Baylor College of Medicine and a lead author on one of the major studies of the device, says 50% of women were able to keep their hair after four rounds of chemotherapy,  and added "without the devices, 100% of patients lost their hair."

There has been some question of safety when it comes to scalp-cooling, but Dr. Nangia says that when given to people who have solid tumors (like in breast, ovarian, colon, and lung cancer) the devices are safe.

Questions to Ask Your Doctor

If you're going through cancer treatment and experiencing hair loss, here are some questions you may consider asking your doctor:

• Are there any treatments to help manage or minimize my hair loss?
• What are scalp-cooling devices and how do they work?
• Do you recommend scalp-cooling devices?
• What other options are available to help me cope with hair loss?
• Can you recommend a wig-maker?
• I'm struggling mentally with my hair loss, can you recommend a therapist to talk to?
• How can I find a local support group with people going through similar things?

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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