Amid National Women’s Health Week, Grammy Award-winning artist and breast cancer survivor Sheryl Crow and radiologist Dr. Arlene Richardson are teaming up to encourage women to keep their mammogram appointments. The pair joined Cheddar News to discuss preventative care for breast cancer "In my case, I was 44, had no family history, was the picture of great health, and I went to a routine mammogram, kept that appointment, and I wound up being diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer," said Crow. "Until we have a cure, really, early detection is our greatest weapon." Crow also touched on her new documentary for Showtime covering her life and career.

Between Bells

Sheryl Crow With a Big Reminder on Preventative Care for Breast Cancer

Welcome back everyone on this Friday. And according to breast cancer.org, about one in eight us women or about 13% will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lifetime. And in a recent study, just four out of 12 risk factors were correctly identified by more than half of the study respondents. However, aiming to change these stark statistics is radiologist Dr Arlene Richardson as well as Grammy award winning artist and breast cancer survivor. Cheryl Crow. I sat down with a pair to discuss, take a look. Obviously you've been a very strong supporter for many years encouraging women to really take ownership and care of their health, especially because you're a breast cancer survivor yourself. So why is it important for you to sort of take time right now to advocate for women's health? Well, it's women's health week and um it's just for me a no brainer. We all have moms, we have wives, we have sisters, we have friends And you take care of the ones that you love and we need to all encourage the women in our lives to make sure from age 40 on that they keep that appointment for a mammogram. In my case I was 44, had no family history was the picture of great health and I went to a routine mammogram, kept that appointment and I wound up being diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and until we have a cure. Really early detection is our greatest weapon. Absolutely. So dr Arlene I want to bring into this conversation as a radiologist, what should women know about their breast cancer screenings if they're like Cheryl and going to one of these women should know that they're doing the best thing for themselves. I mean mammography definitely saves lives. Early detection saves lives. So even when you don't have any symptoms, no lump or anything, you should still stick to your appointment. Go and get your mammogram to make sure that if it does happen till you catch it as early as possible. So that your chances for survival are at the greatest and then you have more treatment options and less invasive treatment options. So your chance for cure is the greatest. So you owe it to yourself to put yourself first at least once a year. Absolutely. So Cheryl this week is National Women's Health Week. So what message do you have for women who need to take a more proactive role in managing their health here? Well I think most women are probably like me, I'm a single working mom. I'm very busy. Um That kind of thing is never on my radar. In fact having been a breast cancer survivor. I don't really even think about it anymore. But boy, once a year when I look at my calendar and that yearly exam is on there. I make sure I'm not miss that appointment. We're all really busy. We've been through a really challenging time and some of us have let that appointment go for a year or even two. So pick up where you left off and make sure and get that mammogram and for me personally um it's it's wonderful to be able to work with a company like whole logic to talk about the three D. Mammography because when I was diagnosed we only had two D. And for women like me with dense breasts which most women do The three D. is far superior and were able to detect cancers earlier were able to rule out false positives. So I encourage every woman to go and check out genius three D. Near me dot com and find the closest three D. I love that you mentioned that dr Arlene I want to pick up on something that Cheryl mentioned because the pandemic has made it even more difficult for a lot of women to get the proper care that they need. A lot of people just put off a lot of those appointments because of the pandemic, what advice do you have for them to sort of get back on track when it comes to these very important health screenings here. I was just recommend they reach out to their doctor make an appointment today. Even if you put it off for whatever reason the pandemic being busy just make an appointment today to see your doctor make an appointment to see your mammogram and just take it from here from this point on. Just move on and make yourself a priority and now they're moving forward. You're doing the best for yourself? Absolutely. So well said Cheryl? I want to switch gears here for a moment. You do have a new documentary Cheryl. It is on showtime now this highlights your career from the star and also a lot of the challenges that you face during a time when women really couldn't speak freely about harassment and mental health. So what was it sort of like going back and sort of reliving some of these very hard and difficult moments in your life? I mean, I'll be honest with you, I was exhausted. Um, you know, we were right in the middle of the pandemic. So we, you know, it was a good time to be doing it because there was nothing else to be doing. But I was nervous at first I'm a very private person obviously, but I did feel like between having 30 or 40 years of experience in the business and having the opportunity to tell my story as a person, not just as a public figure or as an artist to be able to reflect on. It was important, particularly for young women who are getting started in the music business. We've come a really long way, but sometimes it feels like we haven't come very far at all. So for people who watch it, I hope they're inspired. I hope they feel hopeful, hope there's some laughter, you know, it's been a wonderful career and I'm very blessed to have been around for so long. Absolutely, So Cheryl, how do you think the entertainment industry is doing today when it comes to harassment and mental health conversations? Do you think the industry is getting better at that? I think it's bigger than the industry. I mean, really, honestly, since the May 22 movement started at least we're not victimizing women and we're giving women a platform to speak their truth. Um, as far as mental health goes, we need to be talking about all kinds of health, whether it's breast care, breast health or whether it's mental health, we're seeing a rise in teenage suicide and we need to make this not a taboo subject. We need to have an open conversation about what it means to take care of ourselves physically, as well as mentally and um, I feel like we're, you know, we're making strides, certainly we're talking about it much more than we used to and, and, and that's positive. Absolutely, Cheryl guys, I have time for one last question, Cheryl because of Tiktok, there are new artists that are being discovered every single day, especially with how easy it is to have a song go viral now. So what do you sort of think about the industry now that people get hooked on these songs as short as 15 seconds. Um, I'm just gonna tell you right now that my boys who are 12 and 15, tell me almost daily mom, you know, you were born in the 1870s. So I'm just going to tell you that whatever gets music heard, uh, you know, great. That's that's exactly I'm with you at the same as well. Although I would love it if some 15 seconds Sheryl crow clips are on Tiktok as well. Cheryl. Yes. Let's do it. Let's make a trend. All right, Thanks, of course, to radiologist Dr Arlene Richardson and Grammy Award winning artist Sheryl Crow.