RnB singer Shanice has revealed her breast cancer diagnosis, which she discovered after putting off her regular checkups for almost a decade.
The singer told Good Morning America that she had avoided mammograms for eight years after she had one over 10 years ago, after which she was told she had cancer.
Watch the video above
Shanice revealed her journey to finding out she has breast cancer. (Good Morning America)READ MORE: 'Crazy' moment country star Lainey Wilson never thought would actually happen unfolded in front of the whole world
Though it turned out to be a benign cyst, the fear from that moment led her to ignore the screenings, a practice that many other women also ignore.
"Because of the fear that I had when they thought they saw something, I didn't go for eight years," Shanice, now 51, said.
But Shanice learned the heard way to get regularly checked, with a cancerous lump being discovered in her breast after she finally went to get her breasts checked.
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Doctors first believed that Shanice had a ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which is a stage zero cancer trapped inside the milk ducts, which can be treated with a mastectomy.
The I Love Your Smile singer opted to undergo a double mastectomy in May, which is when doctors discovered that she in fact had a stage 1, one-centimetre tumour in her breast.
"When I had my surgery and they told me I had cancer, I literally lost my smile," she said.
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Shanice in her "I love your smile" music video (YouTube/Vevo)"But I wanted to come on the show to encourage women that you have to keep smiling. I got my smile back."
She urges women to "put that fear aside.
"If you get checked early, you can beat this thing. It's not a death sentence. If you can get there early, you'll live."
In Australia, a screening mammogram is recommended for all women aged 50 to 74, though they are free every two years to all women aged 40 and over, even if they do not have any signs or symptoms of breast disease.
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