"When they told me I had to have chemo, the first thing I thought was, 'I don’t want to throw up, and I don’t want to lose my hair,'" the actress said
After being diagnosed with breast cancer last year, Jenna Fischer immediately wondered if she would lose her hair.
In an emotional sit-down with Today's Hoda Kotb that aired on Monday, Oct. 21, the actress — known for her role on The Office — opened up about her decision not to shave her head during chemotherapy.
"When they told me I had to have chemo, the first thing I thought was, 'I don’t want to throw up, and I don’t want to lose my hair,'" the 50-year-old recalled. "I did not throw up, but I did lose my hair."
"And it's all us ladies talk about. How much Googling did I do of hair and pictures of hair and, 'What will it look like?' It’s funny. The way that I lost it, it doesn’t come out evenly," she said. “It comes out in fits and starts. And so I started by having just like a big, bald patch down this side of my head. And I would kind of do like a real elaborate comb-over."
Following her diagnosis, Fischer underwent 12 rounds of chemo beginning in February, three weeks of radiation beginning in June, and has since been treated with infusions of two other medications.
She said that throughout her treatment journey, she didn’t really think about fully removing all of her hair.
"I never had a big shave-your-head moment," she told Kotb. "I don’t know why. I thought, 'Oh, should I cut it first? Should I shave it? What do I do?' And I didn’t.”
"I always had a little hair right here," she continued. "I always had a little hair in the back. And since I was trying to stay undercover, those little bits of flyaways, they sort of helped with the illusion of hair. I kind of [looked] like Friar Tuck, nothing on top and then just a little something over here.”
As she adjusted to her hair loss, Fischer said she wore wigs and hats with hair — joking that her family called them “Wigats.” However, she’s now ready to “ditch the wigs” and embrace her shorter hair.
Fischer first shared news of her diagnosis in an Oct. 8 Instagram post in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. After a lumpectomy and months of treatment, doctors have since told the actress there is no longer any evidence of cancer and she’s “feeling great.”
Though her infusion center didn't have a bell, she celebrated the milestone in her backyard with her husband, Lee Kirk, and their two kids: son Weston Lee, 13, and daughter Harper Marie, 10.
Fischer told her followers that she was sharing her story to encourage others to stay on top of their annual mammograms and ask their doctors to calculate their Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Score.
“If I had waited six months longer, things could have been much worse,” she said. “It could have spread. Seeing women post photos of their mammogram appointments on Instagram needled me into setting my own (which I was late for). I’m so glad I did. Consider this your kick in the butt to get it done.”
The Quran - Chapter Al - Mursalat : 16 - 18
Did We not destroy earlier disbelievers?
And We will make the later disbelievers follow them.
This is how We deal with the wicked.
