Jenna Fisher opens up about her breast cancer diagnosis

“The appointment that won’t end”: The actor told Hoda that in October 2023, she went in for her routine mammogram appointment that she had been putting off. “Three weeks later, they said, ‘Oh, your mammogram was fine. There were a few spots that were difficult to see. You have very dense tissue. We would recommend that you do another mammogram and maybe follow up with a breast ultrasound,’” she said of the conversation with her doctor. “I was like, ‘This is the appointment that won’t end.”

She didn’t think there was anything to worry about: She explained that she felt “no level of concern” when she went back for her breast ultrasound. However, they then asked her to do a biopsy, saying it likely was a “10% chance it’s cancerous.”

She found out through the patient portal: Fischer said she was on a hike by herself when she received the results via her patient portal. “I checked the portal on the hike, and that’s when I saw words like ‘invasive,’ ‘ductal,’ ‘carcinoma,’ ‘malignant,’” she said. “And I was like, ‘Those words sound like cancer words.’” She then called her husband, Lee Kirk, to tell him the results, though she wasn’t sure it was cancer until her doctor confirmed it later that same day.

Hearing about chemo made it real: When her doctor told her of her diagnosis, Fischer said she just felt “disbelief. I think the word that really got me was when we found out that I was triple-positive and my oncologist said chemotherapy. That was when I really lost it,” she said.

On losing her hair: “I started by having just a big bald patch down this side of my head. And I would kind of do a real elaborate comb-over,” she said, laughing. “I was like, ‘Oh, I understand why the gentlemen do this now. Yes, I can sort of pretend like that isn’t there for a while.’” Although Fischer said she considered it, she never had a “big shave-your-head moment.” Aside from styling her new part, she said she also opted to wear more hats and wigs during treatment.

Christina Applegate was really supportive: “I called [Christina Applegate], and she answered the phone, and she said, ‘Which one is it?’ And I said, ‘It’s breast cancer.’ And she said, ‘I effing knew it.’” Fischer recalled of their conversation. “She’s salty. Salty language that one. I love her for it.” Fischer said Applegate put her in touch with fellow survivors and that they took on her journey “together.”

Humor helped get her through treatments: “Humor helped through all of this. And working helped. And staying in the world helped,” she said. “My oncology nurse, Ron, was an amazing man. … When I started chemotherapy, he said to me, ‘Listen, I want you to get up every day, and I want you to walk. Every day. I want you to drink a ton of water. Walking and water. That’s what I want you to do. And I want you to take care of those kids. The women who get up and at it are the women who do better in my experience.’”

The best advice she got: Fischer said some of the best advice she received was to “live your life during this process,” while also listening to her body. “I did that,” she said. “And some days I just walked circles in my own living room. Some days I walked all around the block. But I did every day get up and do those things. And I think it made a really big difference.”

With a little help from her friends: “So many people took care of me, and my family, and my children, and I am so grateful for it — in so many small ways,” she said. “And the thing is, is that everybody had the right way or the perfect way to do it.” Fischer explained that some friends put her chemotherapy schedule on their calendars, while others sent thoughtful texts and picked her kids up from school. She said her mother-in-law recorded prayers that she would send before treatments.

The importance of normalcy and those “charming” annoyances: “I liked that people were annoyed if I was late with an email,” she said. “I liked being regarded as my old self, so to speak. All of the most important things became so clear so quickly. And the cool thing is that that focus never leaves. So I will get to carry that with me now. … I’ll say I find the world to be such a beautiful place in all of its quirkiness.” Fischer added that everyday annoyances have suddenly become “charming” to her. “Like, you know, just traffic. ‘Oh, look at you, cute traffic. Look at all the people just goin’ places,’” she said. “How great that I get to sit in traffic. How cool.”

Get the girls checked out: “Please don’t skip your mammogram appointment. Please get all the extra screenings that the doctor wants you to get. If I had waited six more months, it could have been much worse. It could have spread. It was a very aggressive form of cancer. I’m really lucky that my cancer had not spread into my lymph nodes. It hadn’t spread anywhere else in my body. My tumor was still very small, too small to feel That’s the thing. A self-exam would not have (caught the cancer). It really was that routine mammogram that started all of this. And I’m so grateful that I went to that appointment.”