What Tig Notaro's Story Can Help Us Understand About Breast Cancer

"Good evening. Hello. I have cancer."

That is how Tig Notaro opened a set at Largo in Los Angeles in 2012, on the day she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. NPR's Fresh Air, which broadcast the interview about it, described the response in the room as nervous laughter, weeping and total silence.

Notaro told NPR she thought of the line in the shower before the show. She has also said the diagnosis landed at the end of a brutal four months that included pneumonia, a severe intestinal infection, the sudden death of her mother, and a breakup.

Speaking to NPR in 2016, she described the diagnosis as bilateral breast cancer, meaning cancer in both breasts, and said she was in remission. She had a double mastectomy. In 2018 NPR noted that one of her later stand-up specials involved taking off her shirt onstage and showing the scars.

Those are the things she chose to make public. We do not speculate about the rest of her care.

What "stage 2" is actually describing

Stage is not a measure of how bad a person feels. It is a shorthand for how far the cancer has traveled, and it is what drives the treatment plan.

NCI describes stage II breast cancer as cancer in the breast, in nearby lymph nodes, or both. It splits into stage IIA and stage IIB, and the split depends on tumor size and whether cancer has reached the nodes. Behind that sit three letters, the TNM system: T for tumor size, N for nodes, M for whether it has spread to distant organs. Modern breast staging also folds in tumor grade and three receptor results, HER2, ER and PR, because those change which drugs will work.

That is why two people can both say "stage 2" and get very different treatment. Our page on breast cancer walks through the types.

What treatment involves

There is no single breast cancer treatment. NCI groups the main options into surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and targeted therapy, chosen by the biology of the particular cancer.

Surgery is usually either a lumpectomy, which removes the tumor and a margin of tissue around it, or a mastectomy, which removes the breast. A double mastectomy removes both. Some people have reconstruction afterwards; some do not. That choice is personal and is not a measure of anything.

Hormone therapy is used when the cancer's cells carry estrogen or progesterone receptors, meaning those hormones feed its growth. Blocking them lowers the risk of the cancer returning. Our guide to hormone therapy explains the common drugs and side effects.

The numbers, and what they are not

In the United States, the American Cancer Society projects 321,910 new female breast cancer diagnoses and 42,140 deaths in 2026, and SEER carries those projections. Five-year relative survival across all stages, for cases diagnosed in 2016 to 2022, is 91.9%.

Stage moves that figure sharply. For localized disease, meaning cancer that has stayed in the breast, five-year relative survival is 100.0%. For regional disease, in nearby lymph nodes, it is 87.5%. For distant disease it is 33.8%. Sixty-four percent of US cases are found while still localized.

These are averages across large groups of people over past years. They are not a forecast for anyone reading this, and they cannot account for a specific tumor's biology.

When to get checked

Early breast cancer often causes nothing you would notice, which is the case for screening. NCI lists these changes as worth raising with a doctor:

• A lump, or a thick or firm area, in or near the breast or under the arm
• A change in the size or shape of a breast
• Nipple discharge that is not breast milk, or a nipple that flattens or changes direction
• Skin that becomes scaly, swollen, red or darker on the breast, nipple or areola
• Dimpling or puckering of the skin, itching, or a rash

On screening, NCI notes that the US Preventive Services Task Force recommends a mammogram every two years between ages 40 and 74 for women at average risk. A mammogram is a low-dose x-ray of the breast. People at high risk may be advised to start earlier and go more often. Our plain guide to mammograms covers what the appointment is like.

What this does not mean

• Notaro's diagnosis, stage and treatment were hers. Nothing here predicts what another person's plan would be.
• Being in remission is not the same as a guarantee, and it is not a status anyone else can confirm from the outside.
• A mastectomy is not automatically the safer choice. For many cancers, lumpectomy plus radiation gives the same survival.
• Mammograms miss some cancers, particularly in dense breasts. A normal result does not mean a new lump can be ignored.

Sources

• NPR Fresh Air, Tig Notaro On Going 'Live' About Her Life — https://www.npr.org/2013/07/26/205540155/tig-notaro-on-going-live-about-her-life
• NPR, Comedian Tig Notaro On Her Terrible Year In 'I'm Just A Person' — https://www.npr.org/transcripts/482058688
• NPR Fresh Air, Comic Tig Notaro — https://www.npr.org/2018/05/16/611732423/comic-tig-notaro
• NCI, Breast Cancer Stages — https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/stages
• NCI, Signs and Symptoms of Breast Cancer — https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/symptoms
• NCI, Treatment for Breast Cancer — https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/patient/breast-treatment-pdq
• NCI, Mammograms — https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/mammograms-fact-sheet
• SEER Cancer Stat Facts, Female Breast Cancer — https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html

How this article was prepared

An AI-assisted editorial system helped prepare this page. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed.

The National Cancer Information Foundation publishes Cancer Explained. This page is for learning. It is not medical advice and does not suggest a test or treatment.

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