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On September 26. 2020, posts began to surface on social media asking for prayers for former Basketball Wives star Brandi Maxiell. Her sister has confirmed to The Shade Room that Maxiell is battling COVID-19 and has been hospitalized.
“My sister has been diagnosed with a severe case of COVID-19 and was hospitalized Thursday night after having trouble breathing,” Maxiell’s sister Jayde Penn told TSR. “We would like to ask everyone to please keep her in your prayers as she continues to fight through this. We love you all and please stay safe!”
She also confirmed that her hospitalization isn’t cancer-related due to Maxiell being diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the tender age of 24 in 2007.
Maxiell, 37, has been dedicated to raising awareness about ovarian cancer, which has been deemed the “silent killer.” In an essay she wrote for Essence in 2014, she spoke about her symptoms and how it was difficult to diagnose because there are no tests for ovarian cancer. Once she began treatment, her doctors were shocked at what they found.
“My doctors told me I had the worst case of ovarian cancer they had seen,” Maxiell wrote. “An alien was growing inside of body – the mass had hair follicles, nails and teeth. (Well, maybe that’s a little T.M.I.) The “C” word wasn’t going to stop my flow. Yes, it slowed me down, but it didn’t stop me.”
She told Life & Style Magazine that she was surprised that she had cancer because no one in her family has ever been diagnosed with it. Maxiell said goign through chemotherapy took a major toll on her.
“Besides the losing of the hair, I was so sick!,” she said. “You know, it’s like poison going through my body, so I couldn’t move. I was so weak. My mom thought I was so bad. She had to cover up mirrors in my house because I couldn’t look at myself. I was like, ‘Who is this person?’ I lost so much weight. I was just devastated. I just wanted to shave my hair off at the beginning because I knew it was going to come out.”
We send our prayers to Maxiell!
