Erin Andrews is getting candid about her health journey amid her 2016 cervical cancer diagnosis and the effect it has had on her relationships. The sports journalist was able to catch the cancer in the early stages, where she underwent two surgeries to remove the cancer that year. Andrews is a cervical cancer survivor, and she is urging others to have frequent checkups as well as sharing the vulnerable parts of her fertility journey.
"When I was dealing with cancer, [and] even now when I'm dealing with my infertility, my surrogacy journey, I talk to people. I talk to my family [and] use them as a resource. I talk to doctors," she told PEOPLE. "I just think it's so important to get as much information as possible than to do it all by yourself."
"It's communication. It's being honest," she adds. "Our last miscarriage, I tried to do a better job with being open about my feelings and my grief and so forth, whereas before, I kind of glossed over it, and I noticed that wasn't the best. It's not good for anyone. You've got to really talk it out, and that's something that works for us in our life."
Andrews opened up about her surrogate's miscarriage on an episode of her Calm Down podcast with fellow sports broadcaster and friend Charissa Thompson back in May. After having her and her husband, Jarett Stoll, go through emotional turmoil after losing the baby, she told the publication
"It's really hard to stay up," she told the publication. "I mean, we're talking about trying this all over again, and I am literally thinking to myself, 'Ugh, I don't want to do this all over again. I don't want to deal with heartbreak.'"
She shares a two-year-old son with Stoll and continues to use her platform to advocate for cancer screenings in a partnership with Aflac via the Check for Cancer Movement.
"Be proactive about your health. It's so important," she says. "That's something that I try to stress with my family [and] something that I try to deal with my own health."
"I hate going to the oncologist. I love my oncologist. I hate going for my checkups to make sure I'm okay and everything, but it's just so important," she continues. "It's an early lesson I'm going to be teaching my son as well."
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