Kate Jackson

Cancer Type – Breast

Bio – Kate Jackson, the Charlie Angel’s star recovered from breast cancer not once, but twice. Read her story here.

Short Story – Dubbed the brainiest of the angels on the television show Charlie’s Angels, Jackson also starred in the 1982 feature film Making Love. At the end of the 1980’s, Jackson started keeping a low profile due to the discovery of breast cancer. Kate Jackson also struggled for years to adopt a child which took an emotional toll on her. In 1995 Kate was at a party and heard that Rosie O’Donnell had recently been able to adopt a son which motivated Kate Jackson to seek her out and find out how she did it. Great ending that Rosie had an attorney friend that was looking for someone to adopt a baby from a mother that needed help, in a few weeks Kate Jackson adopted a new son they named Taylor.

Her breast cancer treatment started with a lumpectomy and radiation, which seemed to cure the disease. However, in 1989 a recurrence was detected and she underwent a partial mastectomy and six weeks of recovery. At her post mastectomy check-up of two years, no traces of the disease were found.

“The range of emotions you go through is amazing,” Jackson said of her cancer. “But I really made a conscious decision to be positive. When I had a negative thought, I pushed it away.” This was a particular challenge for a former Revlon and Max Factor model but she handled it with poise and grace and later would become a tremendous support for her co-stars who also battled cancer themselves, Jaclyn Smith and Farrah Fawcett.

Kate Jackson could not feel the lump that was breast cancer. Her first mammogram detected the disease, and why she urges people to get routinely screened starting at the age of 35. She continues to this day to be a very outspoken advocate of regular checkups and very open with her battle to influence and help others.

Thank you Kate for speaking out about breast cancer and heart health, as she also had open heart surgery to correct a birth defect, atrial septal defect.

Image Credits – By ABC Television (eBay item photo front photo back) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons