(NEW YORK) — Former world No. 1 tennis player Chris Evert revealed she is battling Stage 1 ovarian cancer.
Evert shared the news in a Tweet on Friday.
“I wanted to share my stage 1 ovarian cancer diagnosis,” she said. “Thanks to all of you for respecting my need to focus on my health and treatment plan.”
The tennis legend, who made her debut at age 16 at the 1971 U.S. Open and is an 18-time Grand Slam winner who took home 157 singles titles and 32 doubles titles during her career, opened up in depth about her diagnosis in an ESPN article she co-wrote with friend and ESPN journalist Chris McKendry.
In the article, McKendry talks about the moment she learned Evert was diagnosed in a conversation she had with her over text.
“It was short, simple and yet so damn complicated. I got a text on Dec. 7,” McKendry wrote. “My friend Chrissie has cancer. The disease had killed her sister Jeanne. My god.”
McKendry details how Evert was nervous about her diagnosis, which was discovered following a preventive hysterectomy in early December.
“We thought we were being proactive,'” Evert told McKendry. But following the surgery, doctors told Evert that she would need to go back for lymph nodes and tissue samples. The pathology revealed malignant cells and a tumor in Evert’s left fallopian tube.
She had surgery again on Dec. 13 to see if the cancer was in its first or third stage.
During this period of waiting to see what the results were, Evert shared that it reminded her of her younger sister, Jeanne Evert Dubin, who was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
For Dubin, also a former professional tennis player, it was late-stage ovarian cancer and it had spread. She died in February 2020 at the age of 62 after battling the disease for over two years.
Evert said that Dubin tested negative for harmful mutations of the BRCA1 gene.
Mutations in the BRCA1 and 2 genes increase the likelihood for developing breast or ovarian cancer in women, and, to a lesser extent, breast cancer in men, according to the National Cancer Institute, although the BRCA genes are not the only genes associated with breast/ovarian cancer.
The increasing likelihood of developing cancer from a BRCA mutation depends on the type of mutation.
After Jeanne’s diagnosis, the Evert family was notified of a change in the interpretation of Jeanne’s genetic report, which prompted Evert to send her blood for genetic testing. It revealed that she had a variant of the BRCA1 gene, which led her to undergo the preventive hysterectomy.
Evert learned she has stage 1 ovarian cancer, which after chemotherapy, could mean there is a 90% chance the cancer doesn’t return.
“I feel very lucky that they caught it early and expect positive results from my chemo plan,” she wrote on Twitter.
Evert, who is also an analyst for ESPN, will be covering the Australian Open remotely.
She said she hopes her story inspires women and men to be aware of their bodies and to get screened for cancer before it’s too late.
“‘We need to have these conversations,'” Evert told McKendry. “‘Ovarian cancer is a very deadly disease. Any information is power.'”
“‘Be your own advocate. Know your family’s history. Have total awareness of your body, follow your gut and be aware of changes,'” Evert added. “‘Don’t try to be a crusader and think: This will pass.'”
What women should know about ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer originates in the ovaries, which make female hormones and produce eggs, or in the nearby areas of the fallopian tubes and the peritoneum, the tissue that lines your abdominal wall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A woman’s risk of getting ovarian cancer during her lifetime is about 1 in 78, while her lifetime chance of dying from ovarian cancer is about 1 in 108, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Ovarian cancer can affect females of all ages and races but is most common in women ages 63 and older and is more common in white women than Black women, according to the ACS.
While early signs of ovarian cancer can be vague, the main symptoms are abdominal pain or pelvic pain, bloating and an increase in urination, according to the CDC.
It is particularly important for women to pay attention to symptoms of ovarian cancer and speak openly with their doctor because there is currently no reliable way to screen for the disease.
In some cases, targeted use of pelvic scans and sonograms or a CA-125 blood test may be used to detect ovarian cancer, but additional testing is “not one size fits all and it is not recommended for all women,” said ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a board-certified OBGYN.
Treatment for ovarian cancer usually involves a combination of surgery and chemotherapy, according to the CDC.
While there is no known way to prevent ovarian cancer, there are things associated with lowering the risk of getting ovarian cancer, including using birth control for five or more years, having given birth, breastfeeding, having had a hysterectomy, having had your ovaries removed and having had a tubal litigation, according to the CDC.
ABC News’ Katie Kindelan contributed to this report.
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