Patti Hansen: Then and Now

Who knew then, when Patti Hansen appeared on this Calvin Klein Jeans billboard in Times Square, that many years later she would be first diagnosed with breast cancer and then bladder cancer.

Photo by Bruce Barone

No one knew.

Breast cancer awareness month has come and gone, but we all need to be always vigilant about our health.

I had a colonoscopy screening yesterday and was found to be in fairy good health. Yet, I am reminded that my dear mother died of bladder cancer and one of my wonderful sisters has had breast cancer.

Here--let's read a short article about Patti Hansen (edited):

In this month’s Vogue magazine (September 2010), former ’70′s model Patti Hansen opens up about her recent struggles with bladder cancer. The 54-yr.-old has been Rolling Stones' Keith Richards' wife for that past 27 years. In August 2007, after finishing the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour, Hansen who had been spotting for months, urinated blood. Shortly thereafter, she was diagnosed with Stage II bladder cancer.

"This was actually Hanson’s second brush with cancer, having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, after a routine mammogram found a small tumor. She was treated with a lumpectomy.

This time, Patti had to undergo 3 months of chemotherapy, followed by surgery to remove the cancer. During this procedure, her bladder was removed, along with her appendix and a full hysterectomy (removal of the uterus and cervix). A new bladder, called a “neobladder” was created from a piece of small intestine. Two years later, Hansen is cancer-free and has become a handbag designer for Hung On U.
The main reason Hanson says she gave the Vogue interview was to help remove the stigma of bladder cancer in women:  “It’s not something people talk about,” she says. “When I found out that I had it, I thought, 'Oh, my God, this is an old man’s disease.' You go to Sloan-Kettering and you’re sitting there with all these men with prostate problems. And all the information I was getting out of Sloan was for men. They have really got to move this forward for women, because now they are seeing more and more women with bladder cancer. I’ve already met two other women in this area with it.”

More from the article here: 

Are you taking care of your health?