HAMILTON’S MANDY GONZALEZ SHARES HER BATTLE WITH BREAST CANCER
Written by Ballzer on October 15, 2020
Recording artist and Broadway Actress, Mandy Gonzalez went public with her breast cancer diagnosis in January of this year. She recently sat down with People to do an interview to share her story, during breast cancer awareness month.
Mandy Gonzalez plays the role of Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton, on Broadway. When she got the diagnosis, she knew she had a tough road ahead. But then COVID hit, and that made things even more challenging.
With COVID shutting down Broadway, adding remote schooling for her 8-year-old daughter in to the mix, on top of her cancer diagnosis; Mandy’s life got turned upside down. She also shares that “her cancer treatment in New York City became inaccessible due to the pandemic raging through New York’s hospitals.” At the hospital in New Jersey, she was forced to go to chemotherapy alone, due to visitor restrictions. Despite the hardships and the toughest days, in July Mandy rang the bell that indicated that she was cancer-free. Amazing, and what an incredible moment!
Mandy said, “It was good for me to continue to sing because that has been something so familiar to me throughout my life. I think that if that had been taken away from me, that would have been devastating. A lot of friends that I’ve met online say the same thing about going to work, going to a desk job or whatever they do. There’s just a moment where you just get to be you and you don’t have to think about the fact that you have cancer.”
“She also emphasizes that early detection is critical (in her case, a routine mammogram despite no family history of breast cancer detected the tumor growing), recommending regular self-examination but also medical observation.” Read the full article, and Mandy’s interview, here.
Local resources for breast cancer include Mayo Clinic Health System and Gundersen Health System.
Cover Photo Image Credit: Christopher Smith/Invision/AP
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