‘Bachelorette’ Katie Thurston Tells ‘SHE MD’ How a Missed Genetic Test Changed Everything for Her Stage 4 Breast Cancer

When Katie Thurston felt a lump in her breast at 34 years old, she did what most of us would do—assumed it was nothing serious. “I don’t have breast cancer in my family whatsoever,” the former Bachelorette says. By the time she finally pushed for scans, she had already left her apartment, sold her car, and was supposed to travel the world with her now-husband. Instead, she was told she had breast cancer—and then told the subtype and stage were wrong. She was days away from starting the wrong chemo.

On SHE MD, hosted by OBGYN Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi and advocate Mary Alice Haney, Thurston walks through how she went from a near-misdiagnosis while living in L.A. to a corrected stage 4 diagnosis after moving to New York, and why she now refuses to be quiet about early screening. 

Get genetic—the earlier, the better

If you have any family history of cancer, genetic testing isn’t optional, according to Dr. A. It’s essential. “When you have a grandfather with pancreatic cancer, pancreatic cancer sits on a lot of different gene mutations,” she explains. “ATM [ataxia-telangiectasia mutated] is one of them. It could be BRCA, it could be different genetic mutations…and sometimes men present with prostate or pancreas, women in the family can have pancreas or breast.”

In Thurston’s case, her grandfather’s pancreatic cancer should’ve triggered genetic testing years earlier. “Had you been diagnosed with the ATM gene at age 25, we would have started breast imaging probably as early as 25,” Dr. A says. “1,000 percent by age 30, you would have been getting mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRIs because ATM pushes your lifetime risk to about 40 percent.”

Thurston only learned she carried the ATM mutation after her IVF testing—after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. That discovery, she says, changed everything. Now she’s urging other women to do what she didn’t know she could.

Advocate for yourself, even if you ‘feel crazy’

A second opinion can save your life. When Thurston was first diagnosed in L.A., doctors told her she had stage 3 triple positive breast cancer—a completely different subtype than what she actually had. She was 24 hours away from starting chemotherapy when her new team at Columbia in New York retested her biopsy and found that the original pathology report had been wrong. “I was very close to being treated potentially with the wrong medication,” she says. “I even had a port placed, which is a very serious surgery to get, and I had my chemo bag packed.”

That mistake could have changed the course of her treatment, but Thurston didn’t ignore her gut. She transferred her care, demanded new testing, and filed a medical grievance to get answers. “Something like cancer is so massive and, in that second opinion is when I found out I was actually HER2 negative. I was actually stage 4,” she explains.

You have to be your own advocate. Even if it feels uncomfortable, even if you feel crazy, keep asking questions until something makes sense.

You’re not too young for a mammogram

If you take one thing from Thurston’s story, it’s this: 34 isn’t “too young.” She first found a lump months before her diagnosis but brushed it off, assuming it was scar tissue from a benign cyst she’d had years earlier. Even online advice seemed to reassure her. “I searched ‘does breast cancer hurt?’ And I remember at the time it said like, generally no,” she recalls. “So you’re taking that for face value…I don’t have breast cancer. That’s crazy.”

Dr. A says that outdated thinking needs to go. “You’re never too young to have a mammogram, ultrasound, MRI if, you know, if they suspect something, put a needle in it,” she explains. Standard guidelines still say to start mammograms at 40, but both she and Thurston agree that’s dangerously limiting. “We all collectively need to stop saying that mammograms are at age 40,” Dr. A insists. “Mammograms are directly linked to your lifetime risk of breast cancer.”

Build a support system on purpose

When Thurston was first diagnosed, she felt alone. There weren’t many women her age talking openly about breast cancer, and she had no idea how many others were quietly navigating the same thing. “I was shocked to learn how many young women under 40 have breast cancer,” she says. “I truly thought it was like some rare science experiment.” That realization inspired her to start “The Boobie Broadcast,” an interactive Instagram community where more than 60,000 people now share resources, encouragement, and hard truths about life after diagnosis. “I knew I owed it to other women, to kind of document my journey,” she says. “Some people suffer in silence and I don’t recommend that…you really do have to find your community.”

Whether it’s a partner, family, fellow patients, or an online support group, she says connection isn’t optional—it’s part of healing. “Cancer changes your life at some point for the better,” she adds. “It makes you stop and look around, appreciate your loved ones, appreciate your relationship, and look at the world in a different way.”

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