Actress Kate Walsh, who underwent surgery in 2015 to remove a sizable tumor on her left frontal lobe, shared the initial warning signs in a new interview.
Actress Kate Walsh is talking about her own health scare to raise awareness about cancer prevention, after the experience impacted her overall outlook on health and the importance of early detection.
The 57-year-old was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2015 after noticing “subtle” warning signs and symptoms, despite others around her dismissing her concerns.
“Thankfully, it turned out to be benign, so I was very, very fortunate,” Walsh
recalled during a Feb. 27 appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
“It was like, ‘Hey, I’m really tired.’ And then it’s like, ‘Oh, the right side of my body is dipping,’” she
said of her symptoms. “It was just sort of very subtle and then very kind of, ‘Oh, it’s ADD. I can’t really focus. Oh, I’ve been scrolling too much.’ That kind of stuff.”
Walsh first came forward with her diagnosis in a 2017
interview with “Today,” explaining she pushed to see a neurologist to get a diagnostic MRI done, noting the results confirmed her worst fear. The sizable tumor on her left frontal lobe was removed and identified as a benign meningioma.
According
to the Mayo Clinic, meningioma is a type of tumor that originates from the
layers of tissue that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord. It is considered
the most common type of primary brain tumor and is seen more often in women. The “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice” star has
played a medical professional on television for nearly 20 years, but her real-life experience has taught her the most valuable lesson: to trust your gut.
“I know how important it is to advocate for one’s own health because people were like, ‘You’re just depressed.’ It was right after [my TV show] ‘Bad Judge’ got canceled,'” she told Kelly Clarkson.
“Your show got canceled. You’re just depressed,‘” she recalled people saying. “I’m like, ’No, something’s off.'”
This wasn’t her first experience with cancer. Her father’s late-stage lung cancer was diagnosed when she was just 23 years old before he died at age 44.
Her mother’s breast cancer remained in remission for nearly three decades before her
death last year.
Overall, Walsh understands it can be hard to speak up about what you’re feeling, but remains adamantly in favor of early detection and screening.
“It’s a hard thing when you have everybody looking at you going, ‘Hmm, I think you’re just this or that. You’re tired,’” she said.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
offers information for a number proactive health screenings, with breast, cervical, lung, colorectal, and prostate cancers having tests, counseling services, and preventive medicines available for early detection.
