Maura Tierney on her cancer: “I was so lucky. I had insurance.”

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We haven’t heard much from former ER actress Maura Tierney since she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and had to give up her planned role on Parenthood. (She was slated to play the single mom now portrayed by Lauren Graham.) In a new interview with Parade magazine, Tierney, 45, talks about what she went through when she learned she had breast cancer and how she dealt with her treatment. I really admire her attitude about the whole thing, which is basically that it was difficult but that she’s lucky she had great insurance and the means to take time off to get treatment. She says she has no great “wisdom to drop on anybody yet” about what she’s been through but that it was hard for her to accept that she needed to let people help her for once. Here’s some of her interview, which will appear in full in Sunday’s issue of Parade:

Despite having spent hundreds of hours playing a physician, she had never been comfortable with medicine in real life.
“I was so, so scared of going to the doctor. I felt something, and my boyfriend at the time made me go. He said, ‘You’ve got to take care of this,’ because I was afraid. That’s one thing I will say: Don’t be afraid to go to the damn doctor. Just go!”

Her breast-cancer diagnosis was not a “Why me?” moment.
“I was so lucky. I had insurance, I found a great team of doctors at UCLA, and I could afford not to work while I was getting treated. From the beginning my doctor told me, ‘You’re going to be okay,’ and I chose to believe him. So there was always that in my head.”

After she underwent surgery in the summer of 2009, the final pathology report threw Tierney another curve.
“It turned out to be a more aggressive kind of cancer than they thought,” she explains. Only a decade earlier, her doctor told her, pathologists wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. “He said they would have patted me on the head and told me, ‘You’re cured,’ and I would have died of breast cancer.”

The cancer arc is something she has not yet fully processed.
“I’ve been misquoted a lot, and there’s this tendency for people to put on to you how they think you should be or what they think you should feel. The truth is, I had my surgery, and I have two more months on this one drug. I haven’t figured out where I want to focus my energies to help others, and I don’t know what kind of wisdom to drop on anybody yet–except for, you know, they can help people now. I feel an immense sense of gratitude, but sometimes I think there should be room for more gratitude [in me], because I can still be bitchy in the morning…”

It’s that sense of empathy with an edge that seeps into most of the people she plays, including her new role as a prosector on ABC’s legal drama, The Whole Truth.
“Even though my new show isn’t a comedy, I see the humor in my character. There’s something funny about her tunnel vision. At work, she sees things as very black and white. I don’t have that kind of clarity. I’m here… I’m there…”

Some hard-won wisdom.
“There is one thing I’ve learned for sure. It’s a life-changing thing to be in a position of needing help and being so lucky as to get it. And to feel like that’s okay. You can’t just take care of everybody else all the time. That’s almost as perspective-changing as the illness. For someone like me, that was kind of tough.”

[From Parade]

US Weekly has a little more on the interview, and they mention that Tierney’s dad died in December, 2009. A friend of hers is quoted as saying “It must have been the hardest time of her life – but she still maintained her core and her sense of humor. And God bless her, she had to go bald to her dad’s funeral.”

I’m really happy for her that she’s been able to come out on the other side of this and that she has a new show coming out. The Whole Truth premieres on ABC on September 22 and will air Wednesdays at 10:00 pm EST. It also stars Rob Morrow.

Photos courtesy of Parade, where there are more.

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29 August 2010 - Los Angeles, California - Maura Tierney. 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE. Photo Credit: Byron Purvis/AdMedia

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30 Responses to “Maura Tierney on her cancer: “I was so lucky. I had insurance.””

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  1. Snarf says:

    She’s also lucky her Insurance company didn’t drop her when she got sick, a revolting practice so common, the Obama Adminstration had to pass a law preventing insurance companies from doing that.

  2. Eve says:

    Will she finally stop smoking? I read an interview once where she stated she was such a chain smoker she would get so desperate sometimes that she’d look for cigarettes butts in the trash.

  3. Eve says:

    I mean, I hope she doesn’t take this second chance for granted.

  4. Kitten says:

    I’ve always really liked her. The short hair looks good especially in the top pic. I wish her well in her recovery

    Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that today is HOT GUY FRIDAY!!!!

  5. Hautie says:

    She looks really cute with the short hair. Such a great face.

  6. aenflex says:

    I like the coral dress, too. She’s cute with a pixie. Anytime I hear a cancer survivor story it is very uplifting. Good for her!

  7. Jen says:

    Drank the Kool-Aid, did ya, Snarf? That law is shit. Read it and convince me otherwise.

  8. Jen says:

    It’s weird…she doesn’t really look like herself in these pictures. She looks like Catherine Zeta-Jones. Did she do something to her lips/face, or is it just the short hair that’s throwing me?

  9. Sassy says:

    Love her! And I agree with Jen – she looks so different with her short hair – I almost didn’t recognize her!

    She DOES have a great face for that style, though.

  10. Delta Juliet says:

    I never even knew she was sick? Where the hell was I?
    Glad she’s doing so well….I’ve always liked her.

  11. Joan McCarthy says:

    Jen, it could be the effects of the chemotherapy plus any adjuvant therapy she might have received. I know from personal experience that it is all pretty brutal and that a lot of these treatments — although they are indeed wonder drugs — can cause puffiness, weight gain, skin problems and even mild facial distortion. This may be why she does not look quite herself. I think she looks mighty fine after all she has been through. More power to her!

  12. Praise St. Angie! says:

    agree about the short hair…I know it was because of her illness, but she looks SO good with it that way. I hope she keeps it.

  13. Jen says:

    @Joan McCarthy – Thanks for the info! Side-effects are a bitch.

  14. polkasox says:

    @Joan McCarthy – agreed – my mom had breast cancer, chemo/radiation, & she definitely looks a little different now.

    Her hair is so cute, my mom’s grew back the same way after she lost it – kinda curly, like baby hair 🙂

  15. TaylorB says:

    I just rented the first season of News Radio on Netflix she was fantastic. I never have seen ‘ER’ so I didn’t know she was on that show as well, but I hope she returns to comedy it suits her very well. Also, I love the short hair on her she looks beautiful.

  16. Praise St. Angie! says:

    TaylorB, News Radio was one of the FUNNIEST shows, ever, IMO.

    Phil Hartman (may he RIP) was brilliant on that show.

  17. denise says:

    Did’nt know she had cancer. She looks great, God bless her.

  18. Joan McCarthy says:

    @Jen: you are welcome. Cheers!

  19. EMV says:

    She looks great!!! As far as insurance goes, it is illegal , and has been for a long time for a company to drop someone for developing cancer and needing coverage. Some coverage is better than others, but I would rather be able to pay more out of my pocket and accumulate debt and live on the street for life saving treatment and preventitive care than having my taxes go up for less quality drugs and the government telling me that they will not allow me to get a pap or a mammagram bc i am only allowed to get one once every 2-5 years or pay for drugs bc they are too expense for the government to offer. Healthcare reform needs to be taken care of,but not with this pork filled bill full of bull. There are many other ways of making heath care coverage more affordable and accessible. Now EVERYONES taxes will go up significantly and businesses will be less likely to hire new workers. UGH We will never be able to live like countries the size of Florida. It is not logical or realistic.

  20. Leticia says:

    @Jen, you are so right.

  21. original kate says:

    i didn’t know she had cancer. i’m glad to see she is on the road to recovery – she looks great.

  22. The Bobster says:

    When you’re a rich actress, you can pay your own hospital bills…but you should do a bit of haggling.

  23. Kiska says:

    I hope she is well. I totally didn’t reconize her from the pic.

  24. I Choose Me says:

    She looks great. I’m glad she made it through okay. Godspeed for a full recovery.

  25. TaylorB says:

    Praise,

    I couldn’t agree more, that episode with the ‘Buttafuco’ fiasco alone was such a riot. And I am so with you, Phil Hartman was about as gifted as they come.

  26. Taya says:

    @EMV

    “but I would rather be able to pay more out of my pocket and accumulate debt and live on the street for life saving treatment and preventitive care than having my taxes go up for less quality drugs”

    Apparently you have never been on the street. It is so easy to make these statements when it does not apply to you. My nephew died of cancer at 11 years old and my sister was almost on the street because of his medical bills from his treatments. She had to file bankruptcy and her life became a disaster. If he would of had full FREE insurance this would not have happened.
    EMV, why don’t you explain your opinions to families that are living on the street or broke because of no insurance and numerous medical bills and see if they agree with you. Eating out of the garbage should not be the option.

  27. Gymo says:

    @EMV – Do you even know what the Health Care Bill was about? The things you have said are so wrong I would recommend that you never repeat them until you have actually read something about the Health Care Bill.

    I have always been a big Maura fan 🙂

  28. fugly says:

    been a fan of her since news radio days.

  29. Ruffian9 says:

    She looks terrific – and I love the interview. Sounds like a great lady.

  30. ahoymatey says:

    @ EMV, the practice of dropping people who develop cancer (or other “expensive” diseases) may be illegal, but they do find ways around that (“letting the employee go,” etc). they can also deny your claims, look to your past records for anything that MAY POSSIBLY be a pre-existing condition, etc.

    health care should not be a business.