YouTuber Grace Helbig shared that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“So I do not know how to do this, so we’re just going to do this: I have breast cancer,” Helbig starts an eight-minute video posted to YouTube on Monday.
“I know. It’s very shocking, it’s very surreal, it doesn’t sound real, but it’s real,” she adds. “I’ve had a decent amount of time to process and start the process, and so I’m finally ready to share with you,”
Helbig says he has triple positive breast cancer, which she was reassured by medical professionals is “super treatable,” and “highly beatable.” She says her doctors believe her cancer is stage 2A, but they are not entirely sure just yet.
The 37-year-old said her treatment plan would consist of six rounds of chemotherapy followed by surgery, followed by hormonal therapy.
Helbig said she was diagnosed a month ago after going to her annual gynecologist appointment, adding that months before, she noticed a “weird lump in my left breast” that she was reluctant to bring up to doctors.
“Because I thought that I was a stupid little girl that didn’t know how girl bodies work, and it’s probably just muscle tissue,” Helbig said. “And thank God that I listened to that little voice inside of me that finally got the courage to bring it up to her because she also thought it was abnormal.”
“So get those lumps checked! and do not be afraid to ask your doctor what you might think is a stupid question,” she added.
Helbig said she has reached out to fellow YouTuber Hank Green, who recently revealed his own cancer diagnosis.
“I have been texting with him, and his videos have been so incredibly helpful,” she said.
She said she is eagerly awaiting his cancer standup special to get through the tough ordeal.
“I’m going to need comedy through this process,” Helbig said. “Comedy, jokes, laughing, that all really helps me process very difficult things. And not from a place of denial or deflection about the reality, but rather from a place of aiding me through the hardship.”
