Star Jones – Her View on Surgery

Mar 24, 2010 | Stacy Matson | Celebrity Health
Star Jones – Her View on Surgery

image by: Justin Hoch

Cancer is both physically and emotionally traumatizing. Just ask any cancer survivor and there are plenty nowdays. Star Jones speaks out about her past experience and her recent surgery

Star Jones - outspoken, larger than life, (I’m being nice) former co-host of The View, is in New York recovering from cardiac surgery. According to her rep, 'On Wednesday, March 17th, a pre-planned cardiac surgery was performed on Star Jones. The procedure was successful and she is recovering at home with her family. Star is grateful for everyone's thoughts and prayers'. The procedure was reportedly a scheduled follow-up to a previous surgery Jones had nearly 30 years ago. Really? I’m not sure I buy that. Who schedules surgery 30 years in advance???

In earlier interviews, Star Jones revealed that at the age of 19 doctors discovered a large tumor in her chest and told her she only had 9 months to live. After the successful removal of the tumor, she underwent radiation therapy five days a week for eight weeks. Star says the experience left her traumatized. "I was diagnosed with a tumor in my chest cavity…It left me with some physical scars and some emotional ones. When they took the bandages off in the hospital I started crying because I saw my chest with stitches and sutures and it really devastated me at 19 years old. I was embarrassed and I used to do everything in my power to hide the scar down the center of my chest".

She says she turned to food to help her cope with her feelings. Star says that the 5 weeks of radiation treatment she underwent led to her weight gain and a very public battle with obesity. “My thyroid was completely [destroyed by radiation]. So I saw myself balloon over the years and then that coupled with being lethargic and sedentary and overeating and relying on food, it just became an epidemic".

The weight problem was solved after she underwent (but denied) gastric bypass surgery in 2003 and lost more than 160 pounds. (There are rumors floating around that her recent surgery is actually due to a cardiac complication from the gastric bypass surgery. Who knows?)

I digress…Thoracic tumors are pretty rare and there are many different types. And since, Jones hasn’t given many details about the type of tumor she had I’ll just give an overview of chest tumors in general.

A chest tumor is usually characterized as primary or secondary. A primary chest tumor originates in the bone or muscle of the chest and a secondary chest tumor originates in other parts of the body and spreads to the chest. Most chest tumors affect the walls of the chest and are typically referred to as “chest wall tumors”.

The main symptom of chest wall tumors is swelling or a protrusion of the chest. Chest pain may also be experienced by patients but usually only when the tumor is in an advanced stage. And, larger tumors may press against the lung causing difficulty with breathing.

Benign tumors of the chest wall are fairly common and relatively easy to treat with surgery. Cancerous tumors, on the other hand, are very rare: only 5% of all thoracic tumors are cancerous. Most tumors are treated with surgery followed by reconstruction and if cancerous with radiation or chemotherapy. There are no clear causes of chest wall tumors. Many experts believe they are inherited although environment and lifestyle can also be a factor. Survival rates from malignant chest wall tumors vary depending on the stage of the tumor and its location.

Updated April 2012 - Star Jones is now an advocate for heart disease in women...turns out Star Jones' surgery was open heart.


Stacy Matson is a health enthusiast from Southern California and regularly blogs on Celebrity Health for A Healthier World, as well as contributing to the Best of the Best.

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