‘Dancing With the Stars’ Samantha Harris, 50, Says Her Cancer Diagnosis Caught Her by Surprise, Inspiration To Help Others in New Podcast

 

“My cancer diagnosis blindsided me when I was 40, and to be here thriving over ten years later, more energetic, more vibrant than I’ve ever been because of the deep-dive into research I did after my diagnosis is something I wanted to be able to share with everybody,” Harris told KDAF News.

Harris says she was able to make small lifestyle changes to reduce your chances of health conditions, including cancer.

Her podcast, “Your Healthiest Healthy,” will offer those insights.

Harris added that once she mastered her daily stressors and learned to practice mindfulness, she noticed positive changes in her life.

“I was juggling my two little girls, from a full-time television career, and trying to run a household; I didn’t even stop to breathe, let alone nourish my body well enough,” Harris explained.

Harris also encouraged meditation to reduce stress, and it can do wonders for cancer patients, too.

Power of Mindfulness, Meditation, and Relieving Stress

Meditation expert Mallika Chopra encourages patients to practice regular breathing exercises. She notes that it helps “quiet the mind.”

“It really begins with just taking a deep breath into the count of four, pausing, and breathing out,” Chopra says.

WATCH: ‘Feel the Fear,’ and ‘Let It Go’ – Meditation for Cancer Survivors

“What that does is it helps us transition our bodies from the fight-or-flight response that we have that stimulates all types of stress hormones to having a more reactive and mindful response to any situation,” Dr. Chopra adds.

Taking a few moments to breathe deeply and focus on mindfulness can profoundly affect overall mood.

“I do find in having worked with people who are going through physical or mental illness, or just grief, that these techniques just help to quiet the mind and get more rest in the body — and that’s what the healing response is all about, just getting to rest,” Chopra says.

“These techniques help not just physically, but they also help to come to terms with transitions that are sometimes inevitable when people are going through something difficult.”

Samantha’s Breast Cancer Journey

Harris was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2014 despite finding nothing during a mammogram.

“It missed the cancer in my right breast,” Harris said on her blog. “Two doctors told me the lump I found 11 days later was ‘nothing.’

“Finally, four months after finding that lump, I went to see a breast cancer specialist (a surgical oncologist), someone whose main job it is to look at breasts all day and specializes in the detection of breast cancer.”

After a follow-up MRI, biopsy, and ultrasound, Harris’ cancer was still not found. But doctors decided to remove some of her breasts for further testing because they could tell “something was not right.”

“We decided to take it out,” she explained. “Thank goodness, because when the pathology from that lumpectomy came back, it was indeed invasive carcinoma, in addition to the less concerning ductal carcinoma in situ.”

She treated her breast cancer with a bilateral mastectomy, also called a double mastectomy, which removes both breasts. After that, she underwent breast reconstructive surgery.

WATCH: What to consider before deciding on breast reconstruction.

During reconstruction, plastic surgeons can reconstruct your breasts with implants or with your tissue taken from some other place on your body, such as your back, your abdomen, or your inner thigh.

Harris’ cancer did spread to one lymph node, but doctors decided she didn’t need chemotherapy or radiation.

The mother of two has since been declared “cancer-free” with close monitoring “for the rest of what doctors tell [her] is sure to be a long, healthy life.”

What to Ask Your Doctor

If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, you may have questions about keeping your strength through treatment. Here are a few questions to help you begin the conversation with your doctor:

• What treatment will I be receiving?
• What side effects are associated with this treatment?
• Are there steps I can take daily to help minimize these side effects?
• What physical activity routine do you recommend for me during treatment?
• If surgery is needed, is a double mastectomy the safest option?

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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