Paris Olympic bronze medalist and three-time Grand Slam champion Gabriela Dabrowski shared in an Instagram post that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in April and competed throughout the season while receiving treatment.
“I know this is going to be a shock to many, but I’m fine and everything will be fine,” she said. wrote Tuesday. “Early detection saves lives. I completely agree with that.”
Dabrowski, 32, said she briefly took a break from tennis after undergoing two surgeries, but returned to the court in June, where she and partner Erin Routliffe won the women’s doubles at the Rothesay Open Nottingham.
The tennis champion said she then briefly took a break from treatment so she could compete at Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics. She and Routliffe finished second at Wimbledon and Dabrowski won a mixed doubles bronze medal at the Paris Games.
“This all seems surreal,” she posted.
Dabrowski said her health battle began in spring 2023 when she felt a lump in her left breast during a self-exam, but a doctor told her it was nothing to worry about. ‘worry.
“So I didn’t do it. Time passed, and by spring 2024, I thought the lump was a little bigger,” she wrote. “During our (Women’s Tennis Association) full medical exams, a WTA doctor told me she wasn’t sure what it was and to go get it scanned.”
Dabrowski said she had a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy before being diagnosed with cancer.
“These are words you never expect to hear, and in an instant, your life or that of a loved one is turned upside down,” she wrote.
Dabrowski said she feels “it’s a privilege to be able to call myself a survivor”, noting that “over time, I began to recognize that I was part of something much bigger than myself” .
“For a long time, I wasn’t ready to expose myself to the attention and questions I might have received before. I wanted to figure everything out and handle things privately, with only those close to me knowing,” she said. she declared. .
“There were so many unknowns and so much learning and research to do,” she wrote. “Currently, I am in a place where I have a better understanding of my treatment, my side effects, and how to manage them. Please know that I am also fully aware of how lucky I am, as many n “Don’t have the luxury of being able to tell their story.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
