Marcia Cross has a no-holds-barred approach to sharing some of the “gnarly” parts of life with anal cancer. After almost two years in remission, Cross is hoping to reduce the stigma surrounding her illness by speaking publicly about new details of her diagnosis and treatment—especially if doing so helps others stay healthy too.
“I wasn’t interested in becoming the anal cancer spokesperson,” the Desperate Housewives and Melrose Place star said in a new interview with Coping With Cancer magazine. “I wanted to move on with my career and my life. But, as I was going through it, I read repeatedly about people who were ashamed, who were hiding, who were lying about their diagnosis. And on the other side, how doctors were not comfortable talking about it. And women were not given the follow-up care they needed.”
Cross was diagnosed with anal cancer in November 2017 after a routine gynecological checkup. During a digital rectal exam, her doctor felt that something wasn’t right and recommended another examination. After two biopsies and a colonoscopy, Cross received her cancer diagnosis. Fortunately, her doctor caught the disease early and her prognosis was good. She underwent 28 radiation treatments and two weeks of chemotherapy before her cancer went into remission in 2018.
For Cross, cancer treatment wasn’t what you would call a breeze. “The side effects are so gnarly,” she said of her experience with chemotherapy. “I thought I was doing great. And then out of nowhere, I felt this sting in my lip; it was excruciating. It was from the chemo…. I had gastric problems, mouth sores, all the terrible things that can happen with chemotherapy.”
Anal cancer, like other cancers, forms when healthy cells are mutated into abnormal cells and multiply to form tumors. The largest risk factor anal cancer is human papillomavirus (HPV), which is responsible for as many as 91% of anal cancers every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
HPV is a sexually transmitted infection that can spread during vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has the infection, the CDC says. Although many people who have HPV clear the virus without long-term health issues, some people develop complications, such as genital warts or cancers of the cervix, vagina, vulva, and the tongue, tonsils, and throat.
Cross eventually found out that her anal cancer did stem from HPV. Cross’s husband, Tom Mahoney, also had an HPV-associated cancer—throat cancer—in 2009.
A doctor will typically diagnose anal cancer with an anal exam, an ultrasound, and a biopsy, according to the Mayo Clinic. Treatment depends on prognosis, but can include radiation or chemotherapy, along with surgery. As Cross mentioned, chemotherapy can cause a range of side effects, like painful mouth sores, vomiting, hair loss, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and easy bruising. This is because in its effort to destroy cancer cells, chemotherapy can also attack normal, healthy cells, as SELF previously reported. This happens most often to the healthy cells in your hair follicles, mouth, and digestive tract—all of the places where side effects are most common.
Spreading awareness about anal cancer and other HPV-associated cancers is so important because with the proper precautions (including the HPV vaccine), the cancer-causing virus is largely preventable. The HPV vaccine is extremely effective, protecting against the nine most common strains of the virus. It’s a two-dose series recommended for anyone as young as nine and up to age 26, though the vaccine is approved for individuals up to 45.
Cross said she's sharing her experience so that more people will be comfortable talking about—and taking proper care of—their anuses. “I’m a big fan of the anus,” she said. “I just have a lot of respect for this tiny, little two inches that makes our lives livable and pleasant…. We all have one. It’s nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of.”
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