R&B vocalist Shanice, whose soulful tunes like "I Love Your Smile" and "When I Close My Eyes" characterized the 90s, has bravely opened up about her recent battle with breast cancer, while also advocating for regular mammograms—a test she admits she neglected for a span of eight years. The 51-year-old musical icon disclosed that during a double mastectomy surgery conducted in May, doctors uncovered a tumor in her breast.
Two months prior to her surgery, Shanice underwent screening after detecting a lump. Initially, physicians diagnosed her with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a non-invasive, stage zero cancer. However, during the surgery, it was revealed that she actually had a one-centimeter, stage 1 tumor.
"When I underwent surgery and they informed me that I had cancer, my smile literally vanished," Shanice confessed to Michael Strahan during a recent "Good Morning America" interview. The Grammy Award nominee admitted that her reluctance to undergo mammograms stemmed from a past health scare where doctors mistakenly diagnosed a cyst in her breast as a cancerous lump. "Due to the fear instilled in me from that incident, I refrained from getting mammograms for eight years," she admitted.
In September, Shanice took to social media to share a heartfelt video from her hospital bed, documenting her health journey. "This is the most challenging ordeal I've ever confronted in my life, but I have faith in God that everything will turn out well," she declared.
Currently, Shanice is on a nationwide tour, portraying former First Lady Michelle Obama in "44: The Obama Musical." She hopes that her journey will serve as an inspiration for others to be more proactive about their health. "I implore women to understand the significance of getting their mammograms," she emphasized. "If I had gone sooner, I could have caught it at its earliest stage, stage zero."
