‘The Office’ star Jenna Fischer reveals triple-positive breast cancer diagnosis

Jenna Fischer, who is best known for her role as Pam in “The Office,” has announced that she was diagnosed with Stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer last December, but is now cancer-free after treatment.
In an Instagram post, Fischer revealed that after reviewing a breast ultrasound, doctors discovered “something in my left breast.” After receiving her diagnosis, she underwent surgery in January to remove the tumor.
Fischer then began “12 rounds of weekly chemotherapy” in February and “three weeks of radiation” in June.
Fischer said she is now cancer free, but noted, “If I had waited six months longer, things could have been much worse. It could have spread.”
“I’m happy to say I’m feeling great,” Fischer said. She is still receiving treatment that includes “infusions of Herceptin” and “a daily dosage of Tamoxifen.”
In her post, Fischer implored her followers to “get your annual mammograms.”
“I’m serious, call you doctor right now,” Fischer wrote. “My tumor was so small it could not be felt on a physical exam.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, triple-positive breast cancer is “a type of breast cancer in which the tumor cells have estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and a larger than normal number of HER2 receptors on their surface.”
Triple-positive breast cancer “accounts for about 10% of all breast cancer diagnoses,” per the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“Triple positive breast cancer is an aggressive form of breast cancer but it is also highly responsive to treatment,” Fischer wrote in her Instagram post.
Dr. Cesar Santa-Maria, a medical oncologist and associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins, told The New York Times that triple-positive breast cancer is an “aggressive subtype of breast cancer,” but “because of the treatments we have now, it’s the most curable.”
“Twenty years ago? Not the case,” he added.
According to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the survival rate of triple-positive breast cancer “depends on many factors, including the stage of the disease.”
“Because it’s very responsive to the kinds of therapies we have, triple-positive breast cancer has a more favorable prognosis,” Dr. Jason Mouabbi, a breast medical oncologist, told MD Anderson Cancer Center. “Patients with triple-positive breast cancer who respond to treatment have excellent five-year survival rates.”
According to Healthline, the five-year survival rate for triple-positive breast cancer is 89% and above if it is “localized to the breast” or “spread to regional tissues.” If the cancer has “spread to distant tissues,” the five-year survival rate is 45.8%.
According to Medical News Today, people diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer have “the lowest recurrence risk.”
The article stated, “People with this tumor type diagnosed at stage 3 had a five-year probability of recurrence of 15.3%.”