Emotional tennis legend Chris Evert, now cancer free, says her late sister saved her life
Tennis legend Chris Evert, in an emotional interview, talks about how her sister Jeanne, who passed away after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer saved her life.
In an interview to cbsnews.com, Evert, an 18-time singles Grand Slam winner, recalls an incident at an airport which resulted in a doctor’s visit a day later.
Her sister Jeanne, who was also a WTA pro, was first diagnosed with cancer. Later it was found, following tests, that Evert had a genetic mutation which meant she was at a risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Eventually, to Evert’s shock, test results showed she already had ovarian cancer.
The airport story goes like this: Evert and her sister were running to catch a flight at the airport when Jeanne, athletic and fit, was struggling to keep up. Jeanne felt it was because of a lung infection. The next day she visited a doctor.
Top Sports News Now- ‘The name of the game is intimidation’: Hungry Gukesh takes on resurgent Magnus Carlsen
- Vidit wins 4-2 against Nepomniachtchi to complete Indian quartet in FIDE WC quarters
- Neymar joins exodus from Europe for ‘greener’ pastures in Saudi Arabia
“I look back and Jeanne is like walking, but huffing and puffing. And I said ‘Jeanne what is wrong’. And she said ‘I think I have a lung infection’. She made an appointment (with the doctor) and basically they found out that she was stage 4 of ovarian cancer. She lived for two more years,” Evert says.
Later when Evert found out that she had the BRCA1 genetic mutation, the doctor recommended she undergo hysterectomy. “My doctors considered it a preventive surgery. Five days later the doctor calls and says ‘I am in shock as much as you are going to be in shock’. But you have cancer in fallopian tubes and ovaries. You have to go in for surgery. Ten days later after I healed (after hysterectomy) I went in for surgery. (It was) the longest three or four days. I was tied up in knots. I knew it was a bad cancer. I saw Jeanne go through it. I was the needles, the pain, the agony and the chemos. She was like 80 pounds when she passed away. It was a horrible experience for her. I was like Jeannie , please help me. And later I got a call from the doctor and he said it was all clear. But you have to go through chemotherapy. My sister saved my life.”
Also Read
In May this year, after six chemotherapies, Evert was declared cancer free.