Carla Bruni says she would have lost her left breast if not for a routine breast cancer screening four years ago.
The model and former first lady of France aimed to educate people about the importance of regular mammograms in an Instagram post shared Wednesday in partnership with the Paris Breast Cancer Center.
“Surgery, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, I went through the usual treatment for this type of cancer,” she wrote of her 2019 diagnosis. “But I was lucky: my cancer was not yet aggressive.”
Bruni credited her yearly mammogram with giving her the time to treat her cancer. Without detection, she said it could have resulted in surgery to remove her breast, known as a masectomy.
“If hadn’t done one every year, I wouldn’t have a left breast today,” she wrote.
Bruni, who has been married to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy since 2008, said she initially resisted going public with her health concerns, calling the idea of a media spectacle “repugnant.”
“No, the reason i’m posting this today is to deliver a message,” she wrote, adding, “Do your mammograms every year. Do your mammograms. Your lives depend on it.”
In the United States, the Preventive Services Task Force recommends that most women over the age of 50 get mammograms every two years, although some may wish to begin sooner based on risk factors.
Other groups, including the American College of Radiology and the Society of Breast Imaging, recommend that women get yearly mammograms starting at age 40.
Johns Hopkins Medicine explains that women “who are at an increased risk (family history, genetic tendency, past breast cancer) should talk with their health care providers about the benefits and limitations of starting mammography screening earlier, having additional tests (breast ultrasound, MRI), or having more frequent exams.”