How Ananda Lewis discovered she had breast cancer and the regrets she had about her treatment plan
Ananda Lewis, a staple of MTV’s golden era, died this week after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.She was 52.
In the years leading up to her death, the beloved TV personality stirred controversy by opting for alternative treatments instead of a doctor-recommended double mastectomy — a decision she stood by until the end, though not without some regrets. “Do everything in your power to avoid my story becoming yours,” Lewis wrote in a candid essay for Essence published in January, reflecting on the choices she made both during her illness and long before cancer entered her life.Lewis discovered a lump in her right breast while showering in December 2018.It was slightly larger than a pea and located where she’d often experienced mastitis while breastfeeding her son.The former MTV Video jockey and TV host hoped it was nothing — but a biopsy the following month revealed stage III breast cancer that had already spread to her lymph nodes.“For a really long time, I have refused mammograms, and that was a mistake,” Lewis shared on Instagram when she went public with her diagnosis in October 2020.“If I had done the mammograms from the time they were recommended, when I turned 40, they would have caught the tumor in my breast years before I caught it through my own self-exam,” she continued.
Despite the advanced stage, Lewis chose to face the diagnosis her way.“My approach in life is to deal with things head-on as they happen,” she wrote in Essence.“So instead of panicking, I made a game plan.”After seeing her mother and cousin go through traditional cancer treatment, she turned down doctors’ advice to undergo surgery to remove both her breasts, along with possible chemotherapy and radiation.“My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body,” Lewis told CNN in an October 2024 interview.
“I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body in a different way.”She later admitted she had doubts about her decision.�...