Ms Sidner said that she would undergo radiation and a double mastectomy.
CNN anchor Sara Sidner recently revealed that she is currently fighting stage 3 breast cancer during a segment of "CNN News Central," which she co-hosts. She told her viewers that it was her second month of chemotherapy and would undergo radiation and a double mastectomy.
In an emotional moment on air, Ms Sidner asked her viewers to "take a second to recall the names of eight women who you love and know in your life." She stated that one in every eight women gets or has breast cancer at some point in their lives. The 51-year-old said, "I am that one in eight in my friend group. I have never been sick a day in my life. I don't smoke, I rarely drink, breast cancer does not run in my family, and yet here I am with stage 3 breast cancer."
"Stage 3 breast cancer is not a death sentence anymore for a vast majority of women. But here is the reality that shocked my system. Something I never knew. If you happen to be a Black woman, you are 40 per cent more likely to die from breast cancer than your White counterparts," she added.
"So to all my sisters, Black and White and Brown out there, please, for the love of God, get your mammograms every single year. Do your self-exams, try to catch it before I did," Ms Sidner continued.
The journalist also said that she is grateful for the diagnosis because it changed her perspective on life. "I have thanked cancer for choosing me. I'm learning that no matter what hell we go through in life that I am still madly in love with this life, and just being alive feels really different for me now. I am happier because foolish little things no longer annoy me and now every single day that I breathe another breath I can celebrate that I am still here with you, my co-anchors and my family. I can love, laugh and cry and that is enough," she said while holding back tears.
In an interview with People Magazine, Ms Sidner stated that when she was in Israel to cover the war in October, she learned that her mammogram "raised cause for concern" and would require a biopsy when she was back in the US. Once she returned, a biopsy confirmed that the lump she had noticed a few months ago was cancerous and was at an advanced stage. "When I got the news, I didn't tell anybody, not even my mother or husband or sisters or friends. I just needed to process it," she told the outlet.
After overcoming her emotions of powerlessness for a few days, Ms Sidner came to the realisation that she couldn't give up just yet. "I just made a decision. I'm like, 'No, you're going to live and you're going to stop this and you're going to do every single thing in your arsenal to survive this. Period.' And I have been so much happier in my life since ... I mean happier than I was before cancer." She told the outlet that she now wakes up "excited about whatever is coming, because I'm here."