CNN presenter Sara Sidner made her cancer public on her live show – the video of her moving speech is now also going viral on social media.

Sidner's morning show on CNN is supposed to end on Tuesday, but the 51-year-old still has something on her mind. She now wants to address a personal issue, she says. "Take a second and think of the names of eight women you know and love," says Sidner. Then she pauses. "Statistically, one of these women will get breast cancer or already has it. I'm one of eight in my circle of friends."

"For heaven's sake, go for a mammogram every year"

Sidner struggles with himself, fighting back tears again and again. Nevertheless, she delivers her message calmly. She has never been sick, she doesn't smoke, she rarely drinks, breast cancer doesn't run in her family: "And yet I'm here now with stage three breast cancer. It's hard to say." She is now in the second month of chemotherapy, radiation and a double mastectomy, i.e. the removal of both breasts, are imminent.

Breast cancer is classified into stages from 0 to IV, the classification is based on the size of the tumor and existing metastases. Third-stage cancer is not a death sentence, Sidner says. While researching her diagnosis, however, one piece of information really shocked her. Sidner cites a statistic that shows that the risk of death is 41 percent higher for black women with breast cancer than for white women. "So to all my sisters, black and white and brown, please, for heaven's sake, go for a mammogram every year. Do your self-examination," Sidner appeals.

  • Here you can read more about cancer screening, cancer prevention in everyday life and breast cancer

Sidner even wants to see something positive in her fight against cancer. She is grateful that cancer chose her, she says. She looks down, fighting back tears again, but continues. "I'm learning that no matter what we're going through in life, I'm still madly in love with this life. And just being alive feels very different to me now. I'm happier because I don't stress about stupid little things that used to annoy me," says Sidner: "Now I can celebrate every single day that I take another breath that I'm still here with you. I'm here with my co-hosts, my colleagues, my family, and I can love and cry and laugh and hope, and that, my dear friends, is enough."

"You will live"

Sidner is the host of the morning show on CNN. Previously, she had also worked for the channel as a correspondent in Jerusalem, Abu Dhabi and New Delhi. Last October, after the attack by the terrorist organization Hamas, she traveled to Israel to report from there. A mammogram had just given cause for concern, reports People magazine . After returning home three weeks later, the journalist learned that it was breast cancer in the third stage.

She had to process it first, Sidner told People. "I said, 'No, you're going to live and you're going to stop this and you're going to do everything that's in your arsenal to survive this. Period.'"

The American Cancer Society writes on its website that breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in women, behind skin cancer. 30 percent of cancer diagnoses are made for breast cancer. For 2023, the society expected around 300,000 new breast cancer diagnoses and around 44,000 deaths due to breast cancer. The actual figures are not yet available on the site.

PTZ