"The Home Edit" reality TV star Clea Shearer, 41, takes a moment to revel in her progress and the year she's had since being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Shearer was diagnosed in March 2022 after discovering a lump on her breast. Her treatment included a double mastectomy (removal of both breasts), chemotherapy, and radiation.
A side effect of her cancer treatment includes hair loss. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy can cause hair loss that usually begins about three to four weeks after beginning treatment. Fortunately, most people can expect regrowth around four to six weeks after they complete treatment.
Shearer has seemingly found a renewed sense of gratitude after battling breast cancer. Gratitude is a mindset that helps people face adversity and builds resilience.
A year after getting cancer, "The Home Edit" star Clea Shearer, 41, is having a bustling summer touring across the country and overseas for her popular reality TV show that airs on Netflix. She's not taking a moment for granted being able to travel, try new things, and interact with loved ones and supportive fans especially after the year she’s had.
"The first leg of our Summer of Fun tour has been extremely special to me," she wrote in an Instagram post.
"Had it been exhausting? Absolutely," she adds.
Her social media posts indicate she's been to Dallas, the beautiful beaches along Northwest Florida, Los Angeles, Nashville, and even Italy. Shearer is widely known for her home makeover expertise beginning with regular appearances on "Master the Mess" in 2018. She's one of the hosts for "The Home Edit" a reality TV show that focuses on helping celebrities and everyday people organize their clutter-filled homes.
However, last year a breast cancer diagnosis disrupted her busy life.
"Last summer I was in a wheelchair because of chemo. A little bit of exhaustion is fine by comparison! I had my kids, my husband, my parents, my brother, my friends in the audience cheering me on…My life is complete!" Shearer continued.
Clea Shearer's Cancer Journey
Shearer's cancer journey began early last year after discovering a lump.
"I found a lump myself (in) the last week of February," Shearer posted to Instagram.
"I had been trying to make an appt with my OB(GYN) for several months, and even when I told them I found a lump, they couldn't accommodate me. I had to request a mammogram from my general doctor, which led to an ultrasound, and then an emergency triple biopsy," she added.
She would later be diagnosed with breast cancer, but the popular star chose to share the intimate news with her millions of followers on social media. She was originally told her cancer was stage 1, but during the nine-hour surgery in April 2022, doctors found cancer in one of her lymph nodes, which elevated the cancer to stage 2.
Shearer was diagnosed with an "aggressive and fast-moving," breast cancer, but she thankfully "caught it early."
She had two tumors, one measuring 2 centimeters in size and the other 3 centimeters.
WATCH: Treatment for early-stage breast cancers.
"Early-stage breast cancer means that there's a small tumor in the breast, that there are no lymph nodes affected," Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, explained to SurvivorNet in a previous conversation.
"For stage one breast cancer, the first step is to remove the cancer. If a woman needs a lumpectomy, most often she will have radiation after that.
"In some instances, depending on her age, she may not need radiation," she added.
"Depending on the size and other features such as family history, a patient may opt for more aggressive surgery. So even for an early, stage one breast cancer, a woman may elect a mastectomy to remove her whole breast. Then, once that surgery happens, a pathologist is able to look at that tissue underneath the microscope and decide what treatment a woman needs after the surgery has removed it."
(@cleashearer/Instagram)
Shearer, a mother of two, underwent treatment which included a double mastectomy.
A double mastectomy is a procedure in which both breasts are removed to get rid of cancer. The procedure may also be performed as a preventative measure for women who are at a very high risk of developing breast cancer.
WATCH: Understanding a double mastectomy.
Shearer's treatment also included both chemotherapy and radiation. During chemotherapy, patients receive cancer-killing drugs either orally or intravenously. Radiation therapy is also aimed at killing cancer cells except it's administered using high-energy X-ray beams aimed at cancer cells.
@cleashearer
Shearer's first round of chemotherapy occurred in May 2022. However, a common side effect of chemotherapy is hair loss and the reality TV star also experienced it during this emotional phase of the journey.
"Very short hair, and really don't care," she wrote in an Instagram post about a week after cutting all her hair off. "This first round of chemo has been a lot, both physically and mentally. It wiped me out for a few days, but it makes the good days feel that much better."
WATCH: Coping With Hair Loss & the Anxiety it Brings.
Chemotherapy can cause hair loss. It usually begins about three to four weeks after beginning chemotherapy and continues throughout treatment.
It happens because this treatment targets quickly dividing cells throughout the body. That includes cancer cells, but also hair cells.
Radiation is another treatment that can lead to hair loss if the hair is in the path of the tumor being treated. Radiation for a brain tumor, for example, may cause hair loss.
"If you do lose hair, it will regrow several weeks or months after treatment," radiation oncologist Dr. James Taylor told SurvivorNet. "Fortunately, for most patients, hair loss is not a concern when having radiation therapy."
Fortunately, hair loss during cancer treatment is not all bad news. Most people can expect regrowth around four to six weeks after they complete treatment. However, when your hair grows back you may notice some changes in its color and texture.
If losing your hair is a concern for you ahead of cancer treatment, know you have options like wigs, hats, wraps, and scarves, among other things.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 27: Clea Shearer attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 27, 2022, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Daniele Venturelli/WireImage)
In November 2022, Shearer revealed she was “cancer free“. However, the moment of celebration was limited in scope as the cancer survivor noted life after cancer was still filled with mixed emotions.
"There are a whole host of new side effects, new mental gymnastics that you have to do. I actually get my monthly infusions in the same chair that I received chemo" she told Entertainment Online.
"[People] think that you're healthy again, that you're back to normal…and I don't think I'll ever be back to normal, to be honest. Nor do I even want to be. This has changed my life in huge ways, and this will always be part of who I am," Shearer added.
As Shearer noted, battling cancer can change your outlook on life. If the "Home Edit" star's social media posts are any indication, she is even more grateful for all of life's joyous moments she gets to share with loved ones.
WATCH: Finding gratitude and its impact on your well-being.
"The patients who do well with cancer, they live life with that kind of gratitude, but in terms of everything," Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal cancer surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, explained. "They're grateful, not for cancer, but they're grateful for an opportunity to know that life is finite."
SurvivorNet has shared the story of many cancer warriors who reveal how their lives changed after overcoming cancer.
After CC Webster was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at age 29, she was struck by the overwhelming anxiety she started to feel.
WATCH: Life after cancer will be different says cancer survivor CC Webster.
"In life after cancer, I experienced an entirely new level of anxiety that I didn't know existed," Webster told SurvivorNet.
"Earth-shattering anxiety that makes you sweat and makes your heart race. I had to learn how to manage myself in that, and how to allow myself to process the trauma that I had just been through," she added.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you are in the middle of a cancer journey and are looking to improve your emotional health, consider what you're grateful for. To begin, ask yourself the following questions to kickstart your journey to achieve gratitude.
What can I do if I'm struggling to be thankful for what I have in my life?
Are there local resources for people wishing to improve their mental health?
What else can I do to help reduce my stress level during my cancer journey?
