Freaks and Geeks actor Busy Philipps is opening up about her recent brain tumour diagnosis and sharing details about undergoing two surgeries.
In a cover story interview with People, the 47-year-old actor said she’s “grateful that I’m alive” and called herself “the luckiest girl in the world.”
Philipps revealed that she had a malignant brain tumour removed weeks before she was set to start filming her new show, Cupertino.
The Dawson’s Creek alum referred to this period as “the weirdest six months of my life” and said she nearly didn’t go to the Prenuvo scan that led to the discovery of a Grade 2 oligodendroglioma, which is a rare and slow-growing primary central nervous system (CNS) tumour, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The organization notes that “Grade 2 oligodendrogliomas are low-grade tumors. This means the tumor cells grow slowly and invade nearby normal tissue. In many cases, they form years before being diagnosed because no symptoms appear.”
Philipps told the outlet that she was interested in getting the Prenuvo scan, which is a full-body MRI that checks for more than 500 conditions, after she read about it on Instagram.
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“I didn’t know why I wanted to get this scan except for the fact that I just did,” Philipps said.
Her scan was initially scheduled for January but she said a blizzard forced her to push the appointment back to Feb. 12 — the day after her Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died of cancer.
Following her scan, Philipp’s doctor said it showed a lesion on her brain and based on the shape, she was encouraged to book a follow up MRI as soon as possible.
After her second MRI, the Cougar Town actor was told by a neurologist, “This is a real tumour, and it’s inside your brain. And Busy, it’s got to come out.”
Philipps said the confirmation left her “hyperventilating and trying to breathe,” and she knew she had to tell her two children, Birdie, 18, and Cricket, 13.
She said her eldest child was “kind of beside herself and really, really scared and overwhelmed with emotion.”
She had the 2.6-centimetre mass removed and biopsied during a five-hour procedure on March 2.
Philipps’ neuro-oncologist, Dr. John Golfinos, told People that Philipps’ early detection was beneficial.
If she had waited until she was having seizures, the tumour “would have been two or three times the size. It might have been much harder to take the whole thing out,” he added.
One month into Philipps’ recovery, her dermatologist noticed the incision site during a Botox session and told her, “That doesn’t look right. I’m not going to touch it.”
The White Chicks actor had to see a wound care specialist, who put her on antibiotics, but she had contracted staphylococcus in her incision and needed surgery to clear the infection.
Golfinos said they also had to remove one of the tiny titanium tacks put in her skull during the first surgery to hold the bone in place.
“Fortunately, we got to it early, so it wasn’t a deep infection,” Golfinos said of the April 27 procedure.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of in having information. It’s only empowering,” she added.
Oligodendroglioma symptoms depend on the tumour’s location but the most common sign is a seizure, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Around 60 per cent of people have a seizure before being diagnosed and additional symptoms include headaches, problems with thinking and memory, weakness, numbness and problems with balance and movement, the organization notes.
The Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada says that this tumour type is more common among men and women in their 20s to 40s, but can occur in children.
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