Ananda Lewis Announces that She is Fighting Stage 3 Breast Cancer

Before Instagram … There were few places where people went to get their celebrity news, information about social justice, and watch one of the most beautiful women in the world (every week).

But for people from the 90s, BET’s Teen Summit was that place — and its host, Ananda Lewis, was the aforementioned goddess. From 1994 – 1998, weekend after weekend, she and her co-host Prince Dajour were responsible for raising a generation of thought-provocative leaders.

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Lewis also was a host on MTV and she also her own talk show, the Ananda Lewis Show, where young Black and Brown teens could see themselves on daytime television every day.

And in that same tradition, Lewis has taken to her social media to address her audience and their children about another issue that is literally close to her heart.

October is the National Breast Cancer Month, and while folk are getting their Cam’ron on — rocking pink to promote awareness— Lewis bore her soul. She took to Instagram to talk about her current two-year battle, fighting stage 3 breast cancer.

She captioned: “It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I need to share this with you 💜”

“This is tough for me, but if just ONE woman decides to get her mammogram after watching this, what I’m going through will be worth it. 🌸PRACTICE EARLY DETECTION🌸 Share this with a woman you love. These 6 minutes could help save her life. 😌I love you guys😌”

The hashtags that she used were also noteworthy such as  #breastcancerawarenessmonth, #myjourney, #breastcancer, #getyourmammogram, #earlydetection, #savelives, #fuckcancer, #GodisGood, #Allthetime, #thetestisthetestimony, #checkyourtatas

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A post shared by Ananda Lewis (@imanandalewis)

Ananda Lewis started by apologizing to those close to her, like her friends and family, for not telling them sooner.

“That phrase ‘Don’t talk about it be about it,’ that’s been my life for almost two years and honestly there’s nothing any of you could have done so I apologize if you felt like I excluded you. It wasn’t personal, it was just something I needed.”

She says in the video that for many years she refused to get a mammogram and that was a mistake.

“If I had done the mammograms from the time they were recommended when I turned 40, they would’ve caught the tumor in my breast years before I caught it through my own self-exam and thermography. And they would have caught it at a place where it was more manageable. Where the treatment of it would have been a little easier. It’s never easy, but I use that word in comparison to what I’m going through now. Instead, what I’m dealing with is stage 3 breast cancer that is in my lymphs. I need you to get your mammograms.”

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Our prayers go out to Ananda. She is still our dream girl.