Floor Jansen, lead vocalist of Finnish Symphonic Metal band Nightwish, has released an open letter detailing her cancer diagnosis. Floor will have surgery tomorrow and says her prognosis is good, as the cancer is non-aggressive. Floor encourages all women to have a mammogram and all men to remind their wife, girlfriend, mother or sister to go and get checked.
“Life comes in waves, with ups and downs,” Floor’s letter reads.
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“I have had the joy of riding many highs, and I have shared these with you through social media and the many many shows worldwide throughout the many years of my career.
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“But now a new wave hit me. Not a good one. I have breast cancer. It was diagnosed a little over 2 weeks ago and I will have surgery tomorrow to remove the tumor. My prognosis is very good!!! It seems to be a non-aggressive cancer, which seems to not have spread. I will keep my breast. And I will be cancer free after this surgery, plus a local radiation treatment that will take place three months after this surgery, hopefully. We will know more after the surgery to see if this positive prognosis stands.
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“The word cancer is a shocker. All that you found important in life before this diagnosis changes radically within minutes. Now I just want to be healthy again. I want to see my daughter grow into a woman; I want to live! And the scariest part of this diagnosis is that I thought I was healthy! I didn’t feel the cancer, I didn’t know it was there until I, as a 40+ woman, went to a standard mammogram checkup. Something many countries offer, for free even for the lucky ones.
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“Had I not gone there, the tumor would have gone undetected. In a year from now this could have grown much bigger. The thought of that makes me share this story with you. A mammogram is lifesaving! It’s uncomfortable and you might think that you won’t have something in your breasts anyway but GO! And for the men reading this: remind your wife, girlfriend, mother, sister to go and get checked. Even without the luxury I as a western woman experience with free mammogram checkups: GO! Luckily, there are many organizations that offer information about self-detection if you do not have access or funds for a mammogram.
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“If I might inspire you to take good care of yourself, then something good will come out of this cancer diagnosis.
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“If all goes as planned, I will be up and running in time for the European tour with Nightwish, that will start on the 20th of November! And I am optimistic since my prognosis is good! I promise to take good care of myself.
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“I will be off the grid for a while to focus on myself.
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“Thank you for reading this letter.”
MetalTalk and the Heavy Metal community, send Floor our love and best wishes.
A Letter To You pic.twitter.com/JXAWwpPQov— Floor Jansen (@FloorJansen_) October 26, 2022
