The Only Way to Spot the Earliest Warning Sign of Cancer
At 71, Tina Knowles – the fashion designer, businesswoman, and mother of Beyoncé – made headlines not for her career, but for a deeply personal revelation: her breast cancer diagnosis.
In 2023, a routine mammogram uncovered two tumours in her left breast, one benign and the other malignant. Diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer, she underwent surgery and is now cancer-free.
Knowles had initially hesitated to share her story, even considering leaving it out of her upcoming memoir Matriarch. A private person by nature, she ultimately chose to speak out to educate and inspire others – especially women balancing busy lives – about the critical importance of regular screenings.
Knowles candidly revealed that her cancer might have been caught even earlier, at stage 0, if she hadn’t missed a mammogram during the COVID pandemic. Like many, she delayed rescheduling, and it wasn’t until nearly four years later that she returned for screening.
Her sister, a breast cancer survivor herself, reminded her that if she had stayed on schedule, doctors might have detected her cancer before it had begun to invade surrounding tissue.
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