The tennis champion recently remarked after obtaining the all-clear, “It’s still hanging over your shoulder, no matter what.”
Martina Navratilova, a tennis legend, recently revealed that she was cancer-free, but her battle with the disease had a detrimental effect on her physical and mental health.
Navratilova, 66, talked about her health in an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday after being diagnosed with breast and throat cancer at the end of the previous year. Julia Lemigova, a Real Housewives of Miami actor, joined her.
She said, “So, it truly has been seven months of pain, both mentally and physically. I was diagnosed in early December and only recently received the all-clear.
After receiving the all-clear, the tennis champion remarked, “It’s still hanging over your shoulder, no matter what.” Even though her disease was generally manageable, Navratilova persisted by calling her proton radiation therapy “horrendous.”
Her statement to the magazine was, “Radiation and chemotherapy beat me up.” On a physical level, it was awful. Whatever happens, it’s still hanging over your shoulder. There is no avoiding that. I was absolutely powerless, but at least I was in charge of my thoughts. Julia, on the other hand, was powerless in this situation. She had been frightened at first. We were both terrified.
She received assistance from Lemigova, who was at the time filming RHOM but “would come in and out” to be with her. Of course, Chris Evert, a friend and former tennis player, and I had basically experienced the same thing and had supported one another, she added.
Navratilova stated that while competing, she shed roughly 25 pounds. Despite the difficulties, I am now cancer-free, so knock on wood.
During the conversation, Lemigova asserted that the event had changed her perspective on the world. “A calamity like this changes the way you look at life. Enjoy each day as it comes and take life as it comes. We are doing it with Martina. We express our thankfulness and give thanks to God every day, and as a result, we view life entirely differently.
Last month, after “a day full of tests at Sloan Kettering,” Navratilova thanked “all the doctors, nurses, proton and radiation magicians, etc.” on Twitter.
She smiled and tweeted, “What a relief,” with the hashtags “#byebyecancer:) and yes, #f—cancer!!!”
Despite being told that her ailment was “very” curable, Navratilova stated she was “in a total panic for three days thinking I might not see next Christmas.”
In a March interview, Lemigova stated that she had been at Navratilova’s side when she received the all-clear. “Throughout good, bad, and ugly, I stood at her side. It goes without saying that I was there when she was given the news that she had cancer. I was there, of course, when she heard the excellent news. I had no choice but to. We had a party on that day.
Former tennis rivals Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert spoke about their friendship and recent cancer diagnoses in a Washington Post piece that was published earlier this month. Evert said that Martina was one of the first people she told after discovering she had ovarian cancer. She said, “It felt like I was coming home” when I phoned her.
13 years after receiving a breast cancer diagnosis, Navratilova was given the all-clear. When questioned about her first prognosis, Navratilova remarked, “It smacked me on the ass. I feel like I have total control over my life and my body before anything happens.