Maury Phillips/WireImageEx-supermodel Janice Dickinso has announced that she has breast cancer.
Janice Dickinson has breast cancer.
The ex-supermodel tearfully told the Daily Mail Online that she was diagnosed just last month when her doctor discovered a pea size lump during a routine medical exam.
“It’s still quite shocking,” she revealed. “But I am not gonna let that define me, the fear. I’m going to get through this. I’ll be just fine kiddo.”
The reality TV star says that the lump was painful to the touch and she knew almost immediately that it was cancer. A biopsy was taken and within 24 hours the results were back. Dickinson received the news while out shopping with her 22-year-old daughter Savannah in Beverly Hills.
Harry Langdon/Getty ImagesJanice Dickinson back in 1986 when she was a top model.
She has been diagnosed with DCIS – ductal carcinoma in situ which is the most common form of non-invasive breast cancer. Typical treatment is a lumpectomy followed by radiation and in some cases a mastectomy. Chemotherapy is generally not needed as DCIS is a form of cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body.
Dickinson says that telling her children – she also has a 29-year-old son named Nathan – was the most difficult thing to do but draws strength from her relationship with fiancé, Dr. Robert “Rocky” Gerner.
The daytime series “The Doctors” will follow Dickinson’s treatments and procedures. Her first appearance on the show will air April 6.