CNN Host Sara Sidner Returns After 2 Mastectomies, Radiation, 15 Rounds of Chemo
Two mastectomies, more than 15 rounds of chemotherapy and radiation therapy later, CNN’s Sara Sidner returned to her show on Thursday.
Sidner told People magazine she underwent a mammogram after finding a lump on her breast just before she departed on a three-week reporting trip to Israel in October 2023. While abroad, Sidner’s mammogram came back with some concerning results. Upon returning to New York, her fears were realized. She was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer.
“When I got the news, I didn’t tell anybody, not even my mother or husband or sisters or friends,” Sidner told People. “I just needed to process it.”
Despite her diagnosis, Sidner hosted her show, CNN News Central, for almost the entirety of her nearly seven months of treatment, according to People. She didn’t even miss CNN’s New Year’s Eve Special.
On May 21, on the final stretch of her treatment, Sidner told viewers she finally had to take a few weeks off of work to undergo a double mastectomy.
Sidner held her promise, and on Thursday she returned to do a segment with oncologist Dr. Elizabeth Comen about her book All in Her Head and the rising number of cancer diagnoses in young people worldwide.
Sidner shared that she still has 10 years of cancer medication ahead of her as part of her treatment. Sidner did not say whether she was cancer free.
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