Former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis reveals cancer has spread after she decided to keep her tumor

‘I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way,’ Lewis says

Lewis was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in 2020 (Getty Images)

A former MTV video jockey, or VJ, Ananda Lewis has provided an update regarding her breast cancer diagnosis.

The 51-year-old announced that she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in an Instagram post in 2020. In her post, Lewis encouraged women to receive annual mammograms because she had avoided them due to a fear of radiation exposure. Now, her cancer has spread and progressed to stage 4.

Lewis recently appeared during a round-table discussion with two CNN climate change correspondents, Stephanie Elam and Sara Sidner, where she admitted her doctors recommended she receive a double mastectomy after her diagnosis, but she refused.

“My plan at first was to get out excessive toxins in my body. I felt like my body is intelligent, I know that to be true. Our bodies are brilliantly made,” she told Elam and Disner. “I decided to keep my tumor and try to work it out of my body a different way. Looking back on that, I go, ‘You know what? Maybe I should have.’”

“My quality of life was very important to me… I want to want to be here. So I had to do it a certain way, for me,” Lewis added, as she reflected on her decision to not undergo surgery.

Ananda Lewis worked as an MTV veejay from the late 1990s until 2001 (Getty Images)

According to the CNN segment, Lewis’s methods of treating her breast cancer included medication, radiation, and improving her sleep and diet. Despite a period of improvement, she discovered last year that her cancer had spread.

“My lymph system really flared up,” she explained. “It was the first time I ever had a conversation with death because I felt like this is how it is.

“I was just like, ‘Fudge man, I really thought I had this.’ I was frustrated, I was a little angry at myself, and I said, ‘Man, listen. I know you’re coming for me at some point. But I don’t want it to be now. And if you could just wait, I promise when you do come, I’m gonna make it fun for you.’”

The MTV alum added that her condition had worsened to the point of not being able to get out of bed for eight weeks.

Sidner, who was also diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer earlier this year, reflected on her own experience after receiving her diagnosis. She said it made her realize that “I want to be here... I want to thrive in a way I have never felt before.”

Lewis and Sidner are not the only people to open up about their experiences with breast cancer. Last week, The Office actor Jenna Fischer announced on Instagram that she was diagnosed with stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer last year and is now cancer-free.

“I never thought I’d be making an announcement like this but here we are. Last December, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Triple Positive Breast Cancer. After completing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation I am now cancer-free,” she wrote in her caption.

“Back in October 2023, I posted a photo of myself on Instagram preparing for my routine mammogram with a joking reminder to ‘take care of your ticking time bags’ a la Michael Scott,” Fischer shared, referencing Steve Carrell’s Office character. The Office Ladies podcast host revealed she “had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor” in January of this year and the “cancer was caught early and it hadn’t spread into my lymph nodes or throughout the rest of my body.”

Fischer told her fans she was “happy to say I’m feeling great” after receiving treatment.