Christiane Amanpour’s road to cancer has been a winding one, but she’s making it through.
The 67-year-old British-Iranian journalist and CNN chief international anchor appeared on the Changing the Ovarian Cancer Story podcast on Thursday, October 23, and revealed that she is battling ovarian cancer again. The health reveal comes four years after Amanpour first revealed she had ovarian cancer and subsequently underwent months of chemotherapy.
“It’s come back and it’s been very well managed. That’s one of the things people need to understand about some cancers,” Amanpour told host Hannah Vaughan Jones.
According to the Mayo Clinic, ovarian cancer often goes undetected until it has spread to the pelvis or abdomen, making it more difficult to treat. Symptoms include abdominal bloating or swelling, feeling full quickly after eating, weight loss, a frequent need to urinate, changes in bowel habits, and discomfort in the pelvic area.
Christiane Amanpour was ‘afraid’ that ovarian cancer was a ‘silent killer’
Dr. Angela Georg, Amanpour’s oncologist, also spoke on the podcast and said, “They told me this was an unusual and quite rare type of ovarian cancer.”
Ovarian cancer is often referred to as a “silent killer,” so Amanpour said she was “scared” when she was first diagnosed.
“I didn’t know how long I’d had it and I wasn’t sure until surgery and pathology tests were done,” she said of her initial diagnosis and treatment. “Angela taught me what it was and why I might be lucky because I actually had symptoms of pain. As she just said, a lot of women don’t know because there are often no symptoms. So I feel like I was lucky.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, by 2025, ovarian cancer will account for 2% of all cancer-related deaths, with a 5-year relative survival rate of 52%. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system.” A 2018 study reported that “the average lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer is 1.3%, which is 1 in 78 people with a female reproductive system.”
Amanpour also said she decided to go public with her cancer status in 2021. “Actually, I wanted to serve not only my viewers, but also people who might be in a similar situation.”
“I wanted to say what happened to me,” Amanpour said. “And what I was saying was, listen to your body. Part of the reason I was able to get treatment so quickly was because I listened to my body and got medical attention right away.”
Contributors: Rasha Ali and Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY
