Just over a week after Jenna Fischer publicly revealed her breast cancer diagnosis, the former “The Office” actor is opening up about her journey, treatment and how her mindset has shifted.
On Oct. 8, Fischer, 50, shared an Instagram post for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, revealing she had been diagnosed with Stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer in December 2023. She wrote that after undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, she’s now cancer free.
In a one-on-one conversation with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb, which aired on Oct. 21, Fischer said she hoped sharing her story will bring comfort and hope to another woman receiving a breast cancer diagnosis.
The diagnosis
The actor told Kotb that in October 2023, she went in for her routine mammogram appointment that she had been putting off.
“Three weeks later, they said, ‘Oh, your mammogram was fine. There were a few spots that were difficult to see. You have very dense tissue. We would recommend that you do another mammogram and maybe follow up with a breast ultrasound,’” she said of the conversation with her doctor.
“I was like, ‘This is the appointment that won’t end,’” Fischer added, laughing.
She explained that she felt “no level of concern” when she went back for her breast ultrasound. However, they then asked her to do a biopsy, saying it likely was a “10% chance it’s cancerous.”
Fischer said she was on a hike by herself when she received the results via her patient portal.
“I checked the portal on the hike, and that’s when I saw words like ‘invasive,’ ‘ductal,’ ‘carcinoma,’ ‘malignant,’” she said. “And I was like, ‘Those words sound like cancer words.’”
She then called her husband, Lee Kirk, to tell him the results, though she wasn’t sure it was cancer until her doctor confirmed it later that same day.
When her doctor told her of her diagnosis, Fischer said she just felt “disbelief.”
“I think the word that really got me was when we found out that I was triple-positive and my oncologist said chemotherapy. That was when I really lost it,” she said.
Treatment
Fischer opened up to Kotb about the reality of losing her hair during chemotherapy, which she said was one of the side effects she was most concerned about.
“I started by having just a big bald patch down this side of my head. And I would kind of do a real elaborate comb-over,” she said, laughing. “I was like, ‘Oh, I understand why the gentlemen do this now. Yes, I can sort of pretend like that isn’t there for a while.’”
Although Fischer said she considered it, she never had a “big shave-your-head moment.” Aside from styling her new part, she said she also opted to wear more hats and wigs during treatment.
Leaning on her support system
When it came to sharing the news with friends and family, the “Hall Pass” actor revealed one of the first people she called after receiving her diagnosis: Christina Applegate.
“I called her, and she answered the phone, and she said, ‘Which one is it?’ And I said, ‘It’s breast cancer.’ And she said, ‘I effing knew it.’” Fischer recalled of their conversation. “She’s salty. Salty language that one. I love her for it.”
Fischer said Applegate put her in touch with fellow survivors and that they took on her journey “together.”
As for telling her children, Weston Lee, 13, and Harper Marie, 10, Fisher said she and her husband “sat them down” and were “very honest with them.”
“They’re 10 and they’re 13, and they were going to be living in the house while I went through this. They’re going to see it. And the biggest thing that I wanted them to know was that any ways that I seemed sick during this process were side effects of treatments. They weren’t cancer making me sick,” she said.
“That distinction, I think, really put them at ease. And then we just kind of did it together. And they were amazing.”
Where things stand
Along with chemotherapy, Fischer said she also underwent a lumpectomy and radiation. Following her latest screenings, the actor said she’s cancer free, though she’s continuing to take tamoxifen and Herceptin for the next year.
Fischer told Kotb that two saving graces during her experience were maintaining a sense of humor and normalcy.
“Humor helped through all of this. And working helped. And staying in the world helped,” she said. “My oncology nurse, Ron, was an amazing man. … When I started chemotherapy, he said to me, ‘Listen, I want you to get up every day, and I want you to walk. Every day.’”
“‘I want you to drink a ton of water. Walking and water. That’s what I want you to do. And I want you to take care of those kids. The women who get up and at it are the women who do better in my experience.’”
Fischer said some of the best advice she received was to “live your life during this process,” while also listening to her body.
“I did that,” she said. “And some days I just walked circles in my own living room. Some days I walked all around the block. But I did every day get up and do those things. And I think it made a really big difference.”
Looking back at the past year, Fischer told Kotb that one of the biggest lessons she’s learned is the impact of people taking care of other people.
“So many people took care of me, and my family, and my children, and I am so grateful for it — in so many small ways,” she said. “And the thing is, is that everybody had the right way or the perfect way to do it.”
Fischer explained that some friends put her chemotherapy schedule on their calendars, while others sent thoughtful texts and picked her kids up from school. She said her mother-in-law recorded prayers that she would send before treatments.
The mother of two said this entire journey caused her to look at the world through a new lens of gratitude.
“I liked that people were annoyed if I was late with an email,” she said. “I liked being regarded as my old self, so to speak.”
“All of the most important things became so clear so quickly. And the cool thing is that that focus never leaves. So I will get to carry that with me now. … I’ll say I find the world to be such a beautiful place in all of its quirkiness.”
Fischer added that everyday annoyances have suddenly become “charming” to her.
“Like, you know, just traffic. ‘Oh, look at you, cute traffic. Look at all the people just goin’ places,’” she said. “How great that I get to sit in traffic. How cool.”
Fischer’s final takeaway from her experience is a message to all women: “Please don’t skip your mammogram appointment. Please get all the extra screenings that the doctor wants you to get.”
She credits the success of her treatments to her early diagnosis, encouraging more people to book the “annoying” appointment.
“If I had waited six more months, it could have been much worse. It could have spread. It was a very aggressive form of cancer,” Fischer said. “I’m really lucky that my cancer had not spread into my lymph nodes. It hadn’t spread anywhere else in my body.”
“My tumor was still very small, too small to feel,” she added. “That’s the thing. A self-exam would not have (caught the cancer). It really was that routine mammogram that started all of this. And I’m so grateful that I went to that appointment.”
