Vanessa Rissetto, a New York dietitian who frequents as an expert on the Today show, has been declared cancer-free.
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For the year leading up to the diagnosis, the CEO of Culina Health had been experiencing extremely itchy breasts, according to Today. "I know that itching can be a sign of cancer," she shared with the outlet, and she got it checked out with the doctors and booked a mammogram. Nothing came up.
Despite the clear mammogram, the itching persisted and she went back for another. Once more, she was all clear. She knew she had cancer as the itching never subsided, but nothing came up in tests. I can't imagine how frustrating that would be.
Rissetto then saw a dermatologist who issued her a steroid. Naturally, nothing changed. It was only when she went to a new primary care physician that she got her third and final mammogram. After a biopsy was carried out, she got a call on May 26 confirming she had cancer.
A Year Of Missing Cancer
Rissetto knew she had cancer, but to receive the call confirming things was still a shock to the system. After a four-hour freakout in the car, she began her journey.
She had Stage 1A HER2 triple-positive breast cancer, which is thankfully "well-researched." It would still be a hard battle.
Surgeon Dr. Christina Weltz helped Rissetto through her treatment. Rissetto only had calcifications, fortunately. She needed surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. After a year of this, she'd be declared cancer-free.
Her journey has been rather harrowing. Knowing she had cancer a year before it was diagnosed would make anyone apprehensive and anxious about future health problems and concerns. The battle itself has also robbed things from her that she details in her Instagram post.
"Honestly it's been a tough year," she writes, "cancer has stolen a lot from me."
Rissetto notes that she's happy to be alive and is grateful for the advancements in medicine that have allowed her to survive, but she still laments the things it's taken.
She's working with professionals to manage the mental strain the battle has caused.
