Popular YouTube star Grace Helbig shared that she has breast cancer in a heartfelt video on Monday. Along with that news, she shared a proclamation: that she was going to fight. She also revealed the diagnosis happened about a month ago.
The 37-year-old YouTuber, who has more than 2.5 million subscribers on her channel, also co-hosts the podcast This Might Get Weird with Mamrie Hart. She’s hosted The Grace Helbig Show on E! Network since 2015, and she voices the character Cindy Bear on Jellystone!, a MAX animated show.
Helbig shared that she has triple-positive breast cancer, a diagnosis she described as “super treatable and highly beatable.” She discovered a lump on her breast, she said, and wasn’t sure how to talk to her doctor about it because she didn’t want to look like she didn’t know what was going on with her own body.
“Get those lumps checked,” she said. “And don’t be afraid to ask the doctor what you think might be a stupid question.”
As is her way, she found some levity in the whole situation.
“There’s some humor to be found here. The jokes not lost on me that I’ve spent 15 years not using my boobs to get attention on the internet, and yet here we are, and that I’m announcing this during Cancer season. So what’s next? This is my job now and I’m going to fight this little [jerk] of a thing in my left breast as best and as strongly and as gracefully as I can. Pun intended.”
What is triple-positive breast cancer?
The official definition is somewhat jargon-filled, but let’s share that first and then go from there. Here’s what the National Cancer Institute has to say on the matter:
“A type of breast cancer in which the tumor cells have estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and a larger than normal number of HER2 receptors on their surface. Knowing if breast cancer is triple positive may help plan the best treatment, which may include hormone therapy and drugs that target the HER2 receptor.”
Alright. Not the clearest definition for us plebs who didn’t go to medical school. The Mayo Clinic is a little more clear. It calls the diagnosis “a breast cancer that tests positive for a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). This protein promotes the growth of cancer cells.”
It goes on to say that in about one out of every five breast cancers, the cancer cells “have extra copies of the gene that makes the HER2 protein. HER2-positive breast cancers tend to be more aggressive than other types of breast cancer.”
While that sounds bad, there is good news. Treatments that specifically target HER2 are “very effective, and the prognosis for HER2-positive breast cancer is actually quite good.”
Hopefully, this is the case with Helbig. We’ll keep you posted.