R&B Singer Shanice, 51, Diagnosed with Breast Cancer After Skipping Mammograms for 8 Years: 'I Lost My Smile'

When doctors told Shanice more than 10 years ago that they had found a cancerous lump in her breast, she was scared. When it turned out to be a cyst, she was relieved, but also afraid of getting another misdiagnosis. She avoided mammograms for 8 years and when she finally had one, it led to a breast cancer diagnosis.

On Oct. 30, the R&B singer appeared on Good Morning America and opened up about her difficult health journey. She was in her mid-40s when doctors told her that a cancerous lump was found in her breast.

However, further testing determined that the lump was actually a cyst and she required no additional testing. Still, the health scare kept her away from mammograms for nearly a decade.

"Because of the fear that I had when they thought they saw something, I didn't go for eight years," Shanice, now 51, told the outlet.

Shanice noted doctors also told her she has dense breasts. Dense breasts have more tissue and less fat, which makes reading mammograms more difficult as tissue and possible tumors both appear white in results, according to the American Cancer Society. 

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After 8 years of skipping her routine mammograms, Shanice decided to get screened in March after feeling a lump in her breast.

Following the mammogram, the "I Love Your Smile" singer was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Doctors initially believed that she had an early form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which is a non-invasive, stage zero cancer trapped inside the milk ducts. 

Shanice decided that a double mastectomy was the best option for her and she underwent surgery in May.

However, during the procedure, doctors discovered that she actually had a stage 1, one-centimeter tumor in her breast.

"When I had my surgery and they told me I had cancer, I literally lost my smile," she recalled. "But I wanted to come on the show to encourage women that you have to keep smiling. I got my smile back."

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In September, Shanice posted about the double mastectomy on Instagram, telling her followers that she was finally “strong enough to talk about it.”

“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face in my life, but I know God is with me and everything's gonna go well,” she said in a clip from her time in the hospital. The Grammy-nominated singer also noted in the caption that now, “I am healed and restored in Jesus name.”

Shanice told GMA that she decided to share her story to encourage other women to get their annual mammograms even if they’re nervous. 

"I just want to tell women how important it is to get your mammograms," she told the outlet. "If I would have gone sooner, I could have caught [my breast cancer diagnosis] when it was just at stage zero."

"Put that fear aside," she added. "If you get checked early, you can beat this thing. It's not a death sentence. If you can get there early, you'll live."