(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Former 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova has announced this week that she is officially cancer-free again. A few days into the 2023 season, the tennis world was shocked by the news that tennis icon Navratilova was diagnosed with breast and throat cancer.
Fortunately, the whole situation is having a positive outcome as it took six months for 66-year-old Navratilova to beat cancer for the second time in her life. Previously, Navratilova beat breast cancer in 2010. “After a day full of tests at Sloan Kettering, I got the all clear!
Thank you to all the doctors, nurses, proton and radiation magicians. What a relief,” Navratilova tweeted this week.
Navratilova noticed something wasn’t right in November
In November, Navratilova was attending the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas.
While at the WTA Finals, Navratilova noticed a limp on her neck. After visiting the doctor, Navratilova’s worst fears became reality. “I was in a total panic for three days thinking I may not see next Christmas,” Navratilova said a few months ago.
In January, Navratilova was undergoing radiation treatment for three weeks straight and she also had three rounds of chemotherapy weekly. “That was the hard part because the first week was both chemo and radiation at the same time.
When you start feeling lousy you’re not sure if it’s from the chemo or the proton. I didn’t really feel the proton until week three but then you get a sore mouth and your throat starts closing. Everything’s swollen and very uncomfortable, and the proton makes your saliva weird.
You don’t really taste things the right way. Chemo does the same thing to your throat but then it makes it dry. So, you’re just hit from all ends and I don’t think the doctors do a very good job of telling you how the stuff is going to hit the fan,” Navratilova recalled earlier this year.
Now that Navratilova is healthy again, she can return to her role of being a tennis analyst during Grand Slam events.
