Kathy Bates
Type of Cancer: Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer
“Breast cancer runs like a river through my family,” Bates told People magazine. “My mother and niece had it; my aunt died of it. Even if you test negative [for genetic mutations that predispose you to cancer—like I did—you can’t assume you’re okay.”
After beating ovarian cancer in 2003, she didn’t want to take any chances—so when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, Bates underwent a double mastectomy.
She originally decided not to talk publicly about her cancer fights, which she later regretted. “Now if I go through it again,” she told the Daily Mail, “I think I would be a lot more open about it. I admire people who have been open, like Melissa Etheridge and women I see walking around, facing it without wigs and all of that stuff. I think I would be more courageous next time.”
