Canadian tennis star Gabriela Dabrowski (Gaby) recently opened up about her breast cancer diagnosis in April of 2024. Despite undergoing two surgeries to treat the disease, Gabriela Dabrowski, a three-time Grand Slam winner, “played through” her diagnosis and treatment going on to win a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
A breast cancer diagnosis at 32
Dabrowski, just 32, found her lump in 2023, but like many young women who present with a breast health concern, Dabrowski was told by her doctor that there was no cause for worry. A year later, after observing that the lump had grown larger, she revisited her concerns with her doctor. Subsequent screening and a biopsy revealed the diagnosis to be breast cancer.
Despite being unable to lift her arm high enough to serve after her surgeries, Dabrowski leaned into her training and determination as an athlete and was back on the courts in June with her tennis partner to win the Nottingham Open. She then went on to complete at Wimbleton and in Paris while still in treatment for her cancer.
Those who read this blog know that I believe that while a breast cancer diagnosis is as far from normal as one can get, I take exception to society and the media’s portrayal of women diagnosed with the disease as sorrowful and sick. People to be pitied. It’s quite the opposite. The women that I know who have been diagnosed with breast cancer are some of the toughest and most resilient humans I know.
The story of Gabriela Dabrowski serves as a powerful reminder that cancer can affect anyone, regardless of their achievements.
I have pointed to the fact that breast cancer doesn’t discern or distinguish. It can affect young women like Dabrowski. Recent data from the American Cancer Society (ACS) reveals that while more Americans are surviving cancer, the disease is more frequently affecting women as well as young and middle-aged adults. The ACS found women under 50 are now nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with cancer as men the same age, largely attributed to a rise in breast cancer cases. Nor does breast cancer doesn’t care if you are a world-class athlete at the top of your game. Olympians get breast cancer too.
The breast cancer mindshift from “I have to do this” to “I get to do this”
Like all of us who have gone through a breast cancer diagnosis, Gaby Dabrowski looks at life through a new lens. In an interview with SportsNet, she was quoted as saying “When the threat of losing everything I’d worked for my entire life became a real possibility, only then did I begin to authentically appreciate what I had,” she said. “Loving parents and friends, amazing coaches, a doubles partner who stuck by me, a real team, access to health-care experts, and to play a game for a living.
“My mindset shifted from ‘I have to do this (play tennis and not waste my skills)’ to ‘I get to do this.’ Through this lens, I find it so much easier to find joy in areas of my life I previously viewed as a heavyweight.”
It is easy for any of us diagnosed to fall into the pattern of staying silent and not wanting the world to know about the challenges we face. Initially, Dabrowski acknowledges she kept quiet about her diagnosis — in fairness, she had some big tournaments to play with lots of eyes upon her — only realizing during October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month that she was part of “something much bigger than herself.” She began to understand that by speaking up and sharing her story she could play a leadership role in early prevention, and encourage women — young and old, tennis fans or not — to be breast and body aware.
I for one am delighted she did. We all need more role models like Gaby Dabrowski, who show us that breast cancer may be forever etched on our soul, but it doesn’t define us or keep us from living life to the fullest — and in her case, from winning an Olympic medal.
