Jenna Fischer is cancer free! On Tuesday (Oct. 8), The Office star took to Instagram in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month with some news of her own.
“I never thought I’d be making an announcement like this but here we are. Last December, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Triple Positive Breast Cancer,” she shared in her caption. “After completing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation I am now cancer free.”
Fischer went into further detail in her post, explaining that her doctor had ordered a beast ultrasound following “inconclusive results” on her October 2023 mammogram “due to dense breast tissue.”
“They found something in my left breast,” she continued. “A biopsy was ordered. Then, on December 1, 2023, I learned I had Stage 1 Triple Positive Breast Cancer.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, triple-positive cancer is defined as “a type of breast cancer in which tumor cells have estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and a larger than normal number of HER2 receptors on their surface. Fischer described the diagnosis as “an aggressive form of breast cancer” that is “also highly responsive to treatment.” She wrote that she “had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor” in January.
“Luckily my cancer was caught early and it hadn’t spread into my lymph nodes or throughout the rest of my body, however because of the aggressive nature of triple positive breast cancer it still required chemotherapy and radiation to be sure it didn’t return,” she continued. “In February I began 12 rounds of chemotherapy, and in June I started three weeks of radiation. And while I continue to be treated with infusions of Herceptin and a daily dose of Tamoxifen, I’m happy to say I’m feeling great.”
Fischer revealed that she lost her hair during chemotherapy, and donned “some great wigs and hats with hair.” However, she said she is “ready to ditch the wigs,” one of the reasons she chose to open up to the public now. Another reason was to “implore [people] to get [their] annual mammograms,” as well as to share her experience “in hopes that it will be a source of support to any woman who is going through this right now.”
After thanking her “amazing village” of doctors, nurses, friends, and family, including her “best friend” and Office co-star Angela Kinsey and her husband Lee Kirk, she wrote, “I’m happy to say that I was recently re-screened, and the treatments worked. I am cancer free. I will continue to be treated and monitored to help me stay that way.”
She concluded, “Again, don’t skip your mammogram. Take it from Pam and her Pam Pams. Michael was right. Get ’em checked ladies. And know that should you get a breast cancer diagnosis, there is a village waiting to care for you.”
Kinsey and fellow Office alum Ellie Kemper sent their love in the comments of her post, as did celebs Jennifer Garner, Olivia Munn, Katie Couric and Tiffani Thiessen. Take a look at Fischer’s post above.