Taylor Swift, who has kept her mother Andrea Swift’s challenging breast cancer journey as private as possible, has now revealed that Andrea has brain tumor.
"While she was going through treatment, they found a brain tumor,” Swift said in an interview with Variety. “And the symptoms of what a person goes through when they have a brain tumor is nothing like what we've ever been through with her cancer before. So it's just been a really hard time for us as a family."
Read MoreTaylor shared the information while discussing her new Netflix-produced documentary, "Taylor Swift: Miss Americana," which premieres at the Sundance Film Festival this month.
Earlier this year, Swift cut back how many stops she’d made on a planned tour for her new album, “Lover,” on which there is a song about her mom’s diagnosis.
While she has alluded to the reason being her mother’s cancer, she elaborated in the interview to Variety, saying, “We don't know what is going to happen. We don't know what treatment we're going to choose. It just was the decision to make at the time, for right now, for what's going on."
In Swift’s new documentary, Andrea’s mom talks about saying "eff you" to her illness by welcoming a "cancer dog" into their family, according to Variety.
Information About Brain Tumors
While we don’t know the details of Andrea Swift’s case, we do know that some cancers that begin elsewhere can spread to the brain. This is called a “metastatic brain tumor,” according to the National Cancer Institute. Metastatic brain tumors are more common than primary brain tumors.
Doctors “grade” brain tumors on a scale from one to four to indicate how quickly the tumor is growing.
Treatment for metastatic brain cancer may include radiation therapy to the whole brain with or without surgery, radiation therapy to the whole brain with or without stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Swift's Mom's Cancer Journey
Swift shared the news of her mom’s first breast diagnosis in an announcement posted to Tumblr in 2015.
"I'd like to keep the details of her condition and treatment plans private, but she wanted you to know," Swift wrote. "She wanted you to know because your parents may be too busy juggling everything they've got going on to go to the doctor, and maybe you reminding them to go get checked for cancer could possibly lead to an early diagnosis and an easier battle. Or peace of mind in knowing that they're healthy and there's nothing to worry about."
Swift announced that her mother was facing breast cancer yet again in 2019, and said the experience taught her not to sweat the small stuff.
"I've had to learn how to handle serious illness in my family," Swift wrote in a piece for Elle. "Both of my parents have had cancer, and my mom is now fighting her battle with it again. It's taught me that there are real problems and then there's everything else. My mom's cancer is a real problem. I used to be so anxious about daily ups and downs. I give all my worry, stress, and prayers to real problems now."
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