'Anne With an E' Star Offers Major Update on Cancer Battle
Anne With an E star Miranda McKeon is taking "the change and" adapting as she continues her breast cancer treatment. The 19-year-old actress, who starred in the hit Netflix original series as Josie Pye, took to Instagram on Friday with her latest "life update" as she prepared to undergo another surgery. McKeon was diagnosed with breast cancer, a rare diagnosis for someone her age, in June after finding a lump in her chest and underwent chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, the actress documenting her battle on social media.
In her weekend update, McKeon admitted that "there's just been tons of back and forth this month and a lot of emotions. I think I've probably cried every day." Sporting a "pretty tight buzz cut," McKeon expressed her excitement, sharing that "going through this process, you will not believe how excited I get over the tiniest bit of growth... I'm so happy about it. It just feels great. I'm not saying I look in the mirror and recognize myself, or feel spectacular, but I am happy about it." The actress, a sophomore at the University of Southern California, went on to share that she was in Houston to undergo another surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
"I had two positive lymph nodes; they took four lymph nodes out. And I had a positive margin in the breast area, which is kind of common when the tumor is right up against the skin. And I had two positive lymph nodes biopsied at the beginning of this, so we already knew they were there," she explained. "Basically, I decided to have all of my lymph nodes removed, and I'm going to take out a piece of skin down here. I'll probably be able to sleep really well knowing that everything's gone for the rest of my life."
For McKeon, however, the surgery also means that she has had to push back her return to college for the spring semester. While McKeon said she was "expecting to have radiation done before second semester started," the surgery has pushed back those plans. McKeon said "these are just cancer in college girl problems." She added that she was "so looking forward to a semester without anything, because obviously first semester I was carting back and forth doing chemo and losing my hair," adding that during her second semester, she was "going to be done and just focused on being a regular college student."
McKeon said she plans to start her semester in January before she heads back home to New Jersey to start proton radiation therapy at a clinic in Harlem. While McKeon said she was "so bummed" and "sobbed for a long time yesterday" after learning she would have to have to take six weeks off school, she said she is maintaining a positive attitude. The actress signed off her update by declaring, "I'll take the change and adapt to it, as I always do. But that just is so frustrating I can't even begin to get into it. Wish me luck. Actually don't even need it, it's going to be totally fine and more simple than the last time."