Published Jul 23, 2024

‘Un-Break My Heart’ Singer Toni Braxton, 56, Says She’s Struggling With The Death Of Her Sister From Cancer & Her Own Lupus Battle

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Coping After Losing a Loved One to Cancer

As reality star Toni Braxton continues to mourn her sister Traci, who passed away after a private battle with esophageal cancer, she has admitted it was hard to cope with her loved one’s passing as she only considered herself as “the sick one” since she’s been living with Lupus.
According to the Lupus Foundation of America, “Lupus is a chronic (long-term) disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body. It’s an autoimmune disease, which means that your immune system, the body system that usually fights infections, attacks healthy tissue instead.”
Esophageal cancer is a disease that causes cancer cells to form in the tissues of the esophagus, a hollow, muscular tube that food and liquid move through when traveling from the throat to the stomach. The wall of the esophagus is made of up several layers of tissue; cancer begins on the inside lining and spreads to the outer layers of the esophagus as it grows.
Grief is a difficult, truly personal process, something Travolta has shown. Some find solace in vulnerability and sharing how they feel with others.
While working through grief and vulnerable tackling of the emotions that accompany it, some find tools like therapy to be helpful. For others, support groups or turning to faith may be helpful. Whichever methods of support you look for after loss, you should know that there is no correct way to grieve. There is no perfect timeline for grieving, either.

Singer-songwriter, actress, and reality star Toni Braxton, 56, has admitted to having a tough time coping with her sister Traci’s passing from esophageal cancer because she thought of herself as the “sick one” in the family, as she suffered from lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the “immune system attacks its own tissues, as per the CDC.

Toni, who is known for being part of a musical quintet with her younger Braxton sisters, Traci, Towanda, Trina, and Tamar, is seen opening up about her feelings associated with her late sibling’s death on a premiere of the new season of “The Braxtons!”—which is set to premiere on August 9 on We TV, according to People.

In the preview footage, Toni is seen talking alongside her sisters and mom Dr. Evelyn Braxton, about their beloved Traci, who passed away at age 50 from a private cancer battle in March 2022.

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A post shared by Toni Braxton (@tonibraxton)

Toni explains in the clip, “When Traci got diagnosed, it didn’t seem real at all … It still doesn’t. For me, family is the most important thing in my life.

“I spent my whole life caring for and protecting my sisters, but this was different because there’s nothing I could do. I felt so helpless, like I couldn’t do anything to save her.”

“That’s really hard for me to digest, because I was a sick one, not Traci,” Toni, who was received her lupus diagnosis in 2007, added.

The show premiere comes just months after Toni spoke out about how her management team urged her to keep her lupus diagnosis hidden.

Speaking on women’s health podcast “SHE MD,” Toni said, “People get scared around sick celebrities. And I couldn’t get insured. You would not get work, because the second I was told I had it, I didn’t get work at first.”

“No one wanted to put me on a stage. ‘Well, suppose she collapsed on stage, and the insurance, how are we going to do that?’ And so I couldn’t, at first I did not work.”

Toni, who didn’t obtain a correct diagnosis until after she got checked by six doctors, adding, “Lupus can be very challenging and difficult to diagnose because everything has to line up, it’s almost like an eclipse. And no one could find out what was wrong with me.”

She also pointed out how it took her 10 years to get a correct diagnosis, which left her feeling like “a hypochondriac” prior to.

“Like I’m just telling people, ‘I don’t feel well,’ and no one’s listening. And lupus doesn’t have a look to it — not to say that other things do, but we always try to fake that we’re feeling great or we don’t want to worry anyone. As mothers and women, we tend to do that anyway,” she explained further.

According to the Lupus Foundation of America, “Lupus is a chronic (long-term) disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body. It’s an autoimmune disease, which means that your immune system, the body system that usually fights infections, attacks healthy tissue instead.”

This disease often affects your skin, joins, and internal organs such as your heart and kidneys

The most common type if lupus is systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), however there are three other types of this disease. The other types are Cutaneous lupus (which is limited to the skin), Drug-induced lupus (which is caused by prescription drugs), and Neonatal lupus (a rare condition that affects infants of women with lupus).

Anyone can get lupus, however, the following people are at a higher risk:

Women between the ages from 15 and 55
Specific racial or ethnic groups (African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, or Pacific Islander)
If a family member has lupus or another autoimmune disease

Meanwhile, the “Un-Break My Heart” singer also previously needed a coronary stent put in her body to prevent a heart attack, she said in an interview last year with TODAY.

She insisted that if she didn’t have the procedure, she “would have had a massive heart attack and would not have survived.”

Traci Braxton’s Private Cancer Battle

Traci Braxton, the third child of her parents Michael and Evelyn, privately fought esophageal cancer. The stage of her cancer remains unknown, as well as how long she was battling the disease for.

She was best known for her appearances on “Braxton Family Values”, a reality television show featuring her sisters, as well as their brother Michael, and their families. The show first aired in 2011 and ran for seven seasons before Towanda confirmed that network WE TV had canceled the show.

Traci’s death was announced by her family on March 12, 2022, in an Instagram post that read, “It is with the utmost regret that we inform you of the passing of our sister, Traci. Needless to say, she was a bright light, a wonderful daughter, an amazing sister, a loving mother, wife, grandmother and a respected performer. We will miss her dearly.

“Traci passed this morning as the snow was falling, our angel is now a snowflake. We ask that you respect our privacy as we plan to send her home with love, celebrating her life. We are family forever.”

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A post shared by Toni Braxton (@tonibraxton)

Understanding Esophageal Cancer

Esophageal cancer is a disease that causes cancer cells to form in the tissues of the esophagus, a hollow, muscular tube that food and liquid move through when traveling from the throat to the stomach. The wall of the esophagus is made of up several layers of tissue; cancer begins on the inside lining and spreads to the outer layers of the esophagus as it grows.

Several lifestyle factors, like smoking or heavy alcohol use, can increase a person’s risk of developing esophageal cancer. Approximately 22,370 new cases of esophageal cancer are diagnosed in the U.S. every year, according to American Cancer Society estimates, and it is more common among men.

“Esophageal cancer, we know is a tough one,” Dr. Brendon Stiles, a thoracic surgeon at Montefiore Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

“It’s one of the cancers with some of the lowest cure rates out there, but like many cancers, if we find it early, we can often treat it effectively, either with surgery, with surgery and chemotherapy, with chemotherapy and radiation.”

Dr. Sofya Pintova explains how esophageal cancer is diagnosed.

Dr. Stiles recommends that patients report any symptoms that may indicate esophageal cancer to their doctors right away, since there are more treatment options when the cancer is caught early.

The Importance of a Good Support System Amid Esophageal Cancer

Getting the news that you have cancer, especially a disease that is known for being difficult to treat like esophageal cancer, can be a very traumatic experience. When it comes to treating cancer, making sure the patient feels healthy mentally is part of the process as well and that may look different from patient to patient.

Esophageal cancer is more commonly diagnosed in men, who stereotypically have a more difficult time asking for help when they are struggling mentally.

“The esophageal cancer population is a unique population,” Dr. Raja Flores, a thoracic surgeon with Mount Sinai Health System, told SurvivorNet.

“Many of the people who develop esophageal cancer are men who are taking care of their families, who are proud, who are strong, who are self-reliant. So when they get faced with this diagnosis and this real vulnerability, they get depressed in a way that can make them crawl up in bed and not want to get out and that’s when the family comes into play.”

WATCH: Esophageal Cancer: Getting Emotional Support

Dr. Flores stressed the importance of having a good support system in place. Having close friends or family members there to rally for you when you feel the lowest can make a huge difference in how a patient handles treatment.

He also stressed the importance of having a solid doctor-patient relationship. Patients should feel comfortable bringing their concerns about their disease and treatment to their doctors, and that includes struggles they may be going through mentally.

“There’s a lot more connected with this disease than just your body getting harmed,” there’s your soul, your emotions. There’s a lot that goes with it,” Dr. Flores said.

“I think it’s very important to understand that about your patients so you can treat them appropriately. Once they know you see them and where they’re coming from, that’s when you get the, ‘Doc, I’ll do whatever you say, whatever you tell me.’ That’s when you can really get them to the best treatment that they need.”

There are also plenty of resources available for people living with cancer who feel like they’re struggling mentally, from traditional therapy to support groups to integrative medicine that may include treatment approaches like acupuncture or meditation. Check out SurvivorNet’s resources on mental health for cancer survivors.

Moving Through Grief

Grief is a difficult, truly personal process, something the Braxton family has shown. Some find solace in vulnerability and sharing how they feel with others.

While working through grief and vulnerable tackling of the emotions that accompany it, some find tools like therapy to be helpful. Support groups can also be a benefit for those who are feeling isolated in their feelings of grief, as can turning to faith.

Whichever methods of support you look for after cancer loss, you should know that there is no correct way to grieve. There is no perfect timeline for grieving, either.