Beloved MTV VJ and television host Ananda Lewis passed away June 11 at the age of 52 after a battle with breast cancer, leaving fans across the country in shock and mourning. Her passing has sparked discussion about treatment choices and the role of alternative medicine in cancer care, with many wondering if she would still be here had she taken a conventional route to treatment.
Lewis first discovered a lump in her right breast during a self-exam in 2018. A year later, she was officially diagnosed with HER2-negative Stage 3 breast cancer, as she revealed in a January interview with Essence. Rather than undergo a double mastectomy—like doctors recommended—or pursue conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy or radiation, Lewis chose an alternative healing path, a decision influenced in part by her mother’s difficult experience with traditional cancer care.
“It’s not that I don’t trust the medical community. I do, with certain things, but I see a flaw in how they think about treating cancer,” she explained. “So I knew that I would address it in a different way. I wanted to start by figuring out why my body was creating cancer and how to change the terrain.”
While doctors have consistently cautioned against relying exclusively on alternative healing methods, questions remain about their safety—particularly for Black women. Early detection is critical, as Black women face a 40% higher breast cancer mortality rate than their white counterparts.
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