Martina Navratilova

Cancer Type – Breast

Bio – She is one of the greats. Learn how this tennis legend approached her breast cancer diagnosis.

Short Story – Tennis Magazine named her the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005. Winning 18 Grand Slam singles titles and holding the all-time record of 31 major women’s doubles titles, Navratilova certainly made a name for herself.

The diagnosis of breast cancer at the age of 53 (February 24, 2010) brought about unexpected tears after a routine mammogram. A biopsy was taken and she was diagnosed with a non-invasive form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS. It was caught early, and the cancer was confined to the milk ducts and had not spread to the breast tissue.

““It knocked me on my ass, really. I felt so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and it’s completely out of my hands,” Martina was quoted in a People Magazine interview.

She was lucky. She had surgery to remove the cancer, and did not have to have chemotherapy. Two weeks, after surgery she competed in the 24.9-mile cycling portion of a triathlon in Waikoloa, Hawaii. Her way of coping with the disease was possibly to get out there and challenge herself physically.

Navratilova was treated with radiation treatments for six weeks, at a minimum of four times a week. She remained working through the ordeal. The emotional side of her scare came after her treatments. In the summer of 2010, the tennis legend spent the summer resting and re-evaluating the important things.

Thank you for inspiring so many with your tennis accomplishments. We honor your steadfast approach to your disease.

Image Credits – By User:Michal.Pohorelsky Cropped by User:Vanjagenije (cropped from: Navratilova-PragueOpen2006-N17.jpg) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons