“It's gonna be hard, but this is important, and I've got to do this.”
Clea Shearer is opening up about the things she has learned since her cancer diagnosis.
The 43-year-old lifestyle expert was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2022 — and it came at a time when she thought she was having the best year of her life.
Mere weeks before her diagnosis, Shearer’s lifestyle brand “The Home Edit” — which she spent years growing — was acquired by Reese Witherspoon’s media company, Hello Sunshine, per Variety.
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She had also just recently finished filming the second season of her Netflix show “Get Organized” — which she co-hosted with business partner Joanna Teplin — and celebrated her milestone 40th birthday on Feb. 1.
One month later, on March 8, she was diagnosed with breast cancer — forever changing her life as she knew it.
Now three years later, Shearer wants to help others navigate their own unexpected diagnoses.
In an interview with People, published April 24, the “Get Organized” co-host announced the upcoming release of her new book “Cancer is Complicated: And Other Unexpected Lessons I’ve Learned.”
“I wanted to write Cancer is Complicated because it’s the book I wish I had on my bed stand when I was going through treatment,” she told People.
“I wrote this book to make people feel less alone, less afraid, and more prepared for the journey to come,” she added.
The cover, which was shared by People, appears to show a snippet from the book.
“For days, I had been plagued with asking, ‘Why me?’ But at that moment, I thought: Why not me? I can do this. I will do this. If one in eight women gets cancer, maybe better for it to be me,” the cover read.
Shearer was referring to a statistic by the American Cancer Society (ACS) that says “the average risk of a woman in the United States developing breast cancer sometime in her life is about 13%.”
According to the ACS, the median age at the time of breast cancer diagnosis is 62.
Shearer brings her fans through every step of her journey
In the book, which People describes as “part guidebook, part memoir,” Shearer opens up about her journey with cancer and the variety of wisdom and advice she has gathered through the process.
She talks about turning her cancer purposeful and finding a way to make the process “a little less frightening for someone else,” per a synopsis for the book, shared by Penguin Random House.
“The book follows Clea through every step of her journey, from the moment she first felt a lump in her breast, through treatment, to where she is today,” the synopsis reads.
Shearer gives her best advice for being your own advocate, knowing who to share your diagnosis with, understanding the emotional side of your diagnosis and what to eat when nothing tastes good.
In the synopsis, she describes her book as “warm, honest, and straightforward in its approach.”
“It is a reminder to care for ourselves and one another, and it is here to help readers feel less alone and more prepared for the journey ahead,” the synopsis concludes.
Shearer’s book announcement comes one week after she underwent emergency surgery to remedy the issues and complications she’s battled since her initial double mastectomy in 2022.
On April 22, she took to Instagram to post a health update.
“Back in the operating room!” she said after returning to the hospital to get her drains surgically removed following complications due to her stitches.
“I’m taking this one in stride, laying low for a couple of days, and then HOPEFULLY I can move on to the ‘how do I manage with this new body’ phase,” she wrote in the caption.
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“Cancer Is Complicated” is set to be released on Sept. 23.
