Actress Oliva Munn has revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Munn made the revelation in a message that she posted to her Instagram account on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
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Munn has provided more details about her cancer diagnosis in a statement that she has released. In the statement, she said that it was a stroke of luck that the cancer happened to be found when it was, which was a little less than a year ago.
"I wouldn’t have found my cancer for another year – at my next scheduled mammogram – except that my OBGYN, Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, decided to calculate my Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. The fact that she did saved my life," Munn said.
The 43-year-old actress went on to explain that the doctor gave her a breast cancer lifetime risk score of 37%, which was enough of a risk to warrant some MRI imaging. Then, this led to an ultrasound and, eventually, a biopsy.
"The biopsy showed I had Luminal B cancer in both breasts. Luminal B is an aggressive, fast-moving cancer," Munn said.
The Cancer Center reports that luminal B breast cancer tends to have "somewhat poorer outcomes than" other types, such as luminal A. Luminal B is also rarer than luminal A, comprising only 10% of diagnoses, as opposed to 68% for luminal A. Luminal B is described as "faster growing" and "more aggressive."
Munn said that she had been dealing with all of this for the past 10 months, but that she decided to "keep the diagnosis and the worry and the recovery and the pain medicine and the paper gowns private" because she "needed to catch[her] breath and get through some of the hardest parts before sharing."
The actress, in her statement, went on to reveal that, 30 days after the biopsy was taken, she had a double mastectomy, which is the removal of both breasts.
"I went from feeling completely fine one day to waking up in a hospital bed after a 10-hour surgery the next I’m lucky. We caught it with enough time that I had options," Munn said.
The actress concluded by imploring other women to get checked out for breast cancer, and she especially encouraged other women to have their doctors calculate their Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score.
"Ask your doctor to calculate your Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score. [My doctor] says that if the number is greater than 20%, you need annual mammograms and breast MRIs starting at age 30," Munn said.
