Cynthia Nixon, pictured here with Christine Marinoni at a NYC benefit, battled breast cancer. Her mother battled breast cancer when Cynthia was 12 years-old, and even her grandmother battled breast cancer.

Cynthia said she had gone for her "completely routine mammogram" in 2006 when she got a call from her gynecologist. Her doctor said, "Well I have some, it’s not such great news."

Cynthia said she felt "scared … I was very cognizant of it. If it’s going to happen, this is the best way for it to happen, that it’s found so early, and we can just get right on it."

A monthly breast exam, and annual mammogram are the best defense to finding the cancer early.

Cynthia said she "made a big point" of telling her two children she had the disease. "I basically told them they found some cancer in my right breast. It’s very small and it’s very early. I’m going to have an operation, they’re going to take it out, and then we’re going to have six-and-a-half weeks of radiation, every weekday. This is what grandma went through, and I’m going to be fine."

That’s a lot for kids to handle.

Cynthia said she kept her diagnosis private because "I didn’t want paparazzi at the hospital. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, knowing my personal risk made me more aware and more empowered when I faced my own diagnosis."

Next year Cynthia will become the spokesperson for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. There is a lot of support for breast cancer, but let’s not forget another leading cancer, and that is prostate cancer.

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