By Shannon Seibert
Former Dancing with the Stars co-host Samantha Harris recently chatted with Celebrity Baby Scoop after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She opened up about her medical journey and not wanting daughters Josselyn, 6 and Hillary, 3 “to be afraid” for their mother’s health. “I want them to hear from me first what Mommy has and that I’m going to be fine.”
Related Link: DeAnna Pappas Stagliano Talks Motherhood: “It’s Seriously the Best Thing I’ve Ever Done”
Four months after finding an abnormal lump on her breast, her gut feeling didn’t sit right with her. She went to see a specialist and had a needle biopsy, two ultrasounds, and a MRI, leading to a scheduled lumpectomy. “Even the pathology they do in the operating room said no cancer. My husband [Micheal Hess] was right next to me and said, ‘Babe, you’re all clear.’ I didn’t even take him to the follow-up because I thought I didn’t have cancer.”
Initially, all signs really had pointed to being cancer-free, so the television host hadn’t given the visit a second thought. When she found out she did have breast cancer, she was alone in her doctor’s office. “I started to realize that they kept saying the word ‘carcinoma.’ That means cancer, so I guess I have cancer. Then, the tears welled up in my eyes, and it wasn’t until the surgeon left the room that all I wanted to do was crumble into my husband’s arms.”
Harris will undergo a double mastectomy and plans to make a video diary documenting her health journey, which she and her husband might show their daughters at a later date. “The day we found out, while it was still fresh in our minds, we made a video,” Harris shares. “I don’t know if we’ll end up showing it to them, but at least we have the option. Having lost my dad when he was just 50, I was lucky because I was 22, and I’d had him through my whole adolescence.”
Related Link: Bill Rancic Talks About Being a Dad: “Family Comes First”
Still, she has kept a very positive outlook on her diagnosis. She has high hopes for her future with her husband and her girls. “No matter how positive of a diagnosis as I have, it doesn’t keep the demons of fear from taking over your mind and your thought process and thinking about the girls and thinking about how my dad wasn’t able to walk me down the aisle,” she adds. “I will be here to plan my daughters’ weddings, and they better like the dress I pick!”
For the full interview, visit www.celebritybabyscoop.com/2014/04/20/samantha-daughters-diagnosis.
