Last week, we published Katie’s poignant article, in which she disclosed her breast cancer diagnosis. A tiny tumor the size of an olive was found after long-delayed mammography was scheduled for the summer of 2022.

Katie was fortunate to find her illness early, and she quickly underwent a lumpectomy and radiation treatment. As a longtime supporter of cancer research and awareness, Katie is now driven to tell her story.

To that end, she is spending Breast Cancer Awareness Month sharing details of her diagnosis, treatment, and overall experience.

Katie discusses the significance of thorough cancer screenings in this incredibly personal episode of her podcast Next Question. She also encourages listeners to schedule regular checkups with their doctors.

Katie also draws attention to the higher risk for patients who have dense breasts; approximately half of the American women have dense breasts, which can reduce the likelihood that abnormalities will be detected by mammography.

Katie has frank interactions with her medical staff in order to keep things open. She discusses the procedures for diagnosis and treatment with a surgical breast oncologist and chief of breast surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center Lisa Newman, MD, and interventional breast radiologist Susan Drossman, MD. In addition, Katie offers unedited recordings that she made while receiving treatment, giving readers an authentic look into her experience.

In this episode, Ellie and Carrie Monahan, Katie’s two kids, share their personal memories of their emotional reactions to their mother’s illness. Katie also speaks with Michele Young, a breast cancer survivor, on the campaign to alter Ohio’s screening requirements for the disease.

Read the highlights from the conversations below and listen to the entire podcast.

She usually calls and texts me frequently. In the past, especially when I was in college, I used to be really unresponsive to her. However, she frequently calls or FaceTime now without warning. We communicate frequently throughout the day.

I missed a call when I woke up in the morning. Please call me, she pleaded.

She frequently acts in that way. It might be for a completely unrelated and unimportant reason. I recall that I had just awoken. She spoke to me on FaceTime. It spooked me. She assured me that everything would be alright. I believe she did so to introduce it.

The mammography had turned up something. “That’s why I couldn’t talk to you on the phone to try to figure out car mirrors,” she stated. I felt horrible after learning I had cancer.

I was concerned. But I believe she was aware right away that she had access to excellent medical professionals, that it was very early, and that she was probably going to be fine.

She informed me that due to the date of the surgery, a trip she and I had planned wouldn’t be possible. Don’t tell Ellie because I’m going to tell her, she continued.

Ellie Monahan struggled with her mother’s prognosis that she was somewhat different from Carrie in the midst of a hectic summer. I’ve always had a lot of anxiety, and my mother and I are in continuous contact.

Only in the last few years have I learned to let it go. She was constantly on my speed dial, and we still speak frequently. But it used to happen every day, and now it only happens occasionally. That’s okay because I’m married and 31 years old.

Because I had three weddings and had to fly back and forth from L.A., where I live, to the East coast, where these weddings were, we hadn’t been chatting much. To attend the wedding of my husband’s cousin, I took a redeye flight to New Jersey. I was already quite emotionally spent since it was the day Roe v. Wade was overruled.

I finally got in touch with her on that day. She informed me that she had been given a very early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Ellie considers the awful history of cancer in the family.
Some trigger words were employed. Hearing “radiation” was challenging. I was genuinely afraid at the mere word of chemotherapy and the thought of my mum losing her hair.

In 1997, our father [Jay Monahan] received a stage four cancer diagnosis. It was encouraging to learn that my mom’s condition was in a much earlier stage. Because of her work with Stand Up to Cancer and the cancer community, our mom is incredibly resilient and has incredible connections in the medical world.

I was aware that she has excellent doctors and that we would get more information when it became available. She handled it so coolly. After the first shock of hearing the C word, I found that to be a great source of comfort.

She seemed to be guarding us, which was really considerate of her in that moment. That is a true mother move.

I believe my mind was incapable of thinking that she wouldn’t be OK. I simply couldn’t go there after losing our father. I had no idea where I was.

Carrie talks about losing her father.
Ellie was six years old when our dad became ill, while I was essentially a newborn, which may have contributed to our different reactions to the news.

I don’t remember it. She was so young when she was diagnosed with cancer, which I believe made the experience for her much more traumatic. Recently, Ellie recalled to me how she had experienced extreme fright at the sight of a mannequin head sporting one of our father’s wigs.

She has a ton of more recollections that I don’t. That, in my opinion, is part of it for Ellie.

When telling Katie the news, Dr. Drossman recalled thinking, “Oh my goodness, how am I going to say this?” Which is what I always say when I have to break the news to someone. Always challenging. Every time I do it, I find it difficult.

My question to Katie was presumably, “Do you have a few minutes to talk?” When I’m concerned about anything, I at least give folks the heads-up that I’m about to call and it might not be good news. I make an effort not to surprise folks.

It was a tiny breast cancer, I believe I said. It is completely treatable, but we must devise a strategy.

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