Twelve weeks after she was confronted by her own mortality following a diagnosis of throat and breast cancers, Martina Navratilova has been told by doctors that she is free of the disease.
Navratilova, an 18-time grand slam champion in singles, said medics had given her a “very, very good” prognosis following a three-week trial programme of proton therapy treatment at the Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.
“As far as they know, I’m cancer-free,” Navratilova told Piers Morgan in an interview with TalkTV. “I still need to deal with the right breast, probably have radiation [treatment], but that’s a couple of weeks, and it’s like that doesn’t even count.
“That’s more preventative than anything else.
“It’s like 99% solvable. I definitely will not be missing any of my check-ups. I’ll be very diligent about that. The prognosis is excellent. But you never know.”
The nine-time Wimbledon champion, 66, first suspected something was amiss when she noticed a swollen lymph node in her neck while working as a television pundit at last November’s WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas. Her first thought was that it might have been caused by a shingles vaccine she had received the previous week, but a biopsy led to a diagnosis of early-stage throat cancer. Tests also revealed a lump in her right breast.
“I asked the doctor, ‘What do you think the chances are?’ and he said, ‘About 50-50,’” said Navratilova. “And I thought, ‘I don’t like those odds.’
“I was in a total panic for three days, thinking I may not see next Christmas.
“You definitely come face to face with your mortality a lot more when you’re 65 than when you’re 50 or 55.
“The bucket list came into my mind of all the things I wanted to do. And this may sound really shallow, but I was like, ‘OK, which kick-ass car do I really want to drive if I live like a year?’”
After what she described as “three horrible nights” during which she had no idea which area of her body had been affected by the disease, Navratilova received more positive news. Her condition was curable. Immediately, her mindset altered.
“Once the oncologist said ‘No, it’s from your throat and it’s very treatable,’ then I’m like ‘OK, so what do we do?’ As a tennis player, you have to be in that solution [mode], you have to be in game mode, so that’s where I think being a champion athlete comes in pretty handy.”
In the weeks that followed, Navratilova’s mental strength served her well. The combined effects of chemotherapy and proton therapy, a highly targeted radiation treatment used to disrupt and destroy tumour cells, left her struggling to eat. Navratilova lost 15 pounds in weight and struggled even to yawn or sneeze as the effects of the treatment began to take hold.
“I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t realise it was going to be as hard as it really was,” said Navratilova.
“When you start feeling lousy, you’re not sure if it’s from the chemo or the proton.
“I didn’t really feel the proton until week three, but then you get a sore mouth and your throat starts closing.
“Everything’s swollen and very uncomfortable, and the proton makes your saliva weird. You don’t really taste things the right way. Chemo does the same thing to your throat, but then it makes it dry.
“So, you’re just hit from all ends and I don’t think the doctors do a very good job of telling you how the shit is going to hit the fan.”
Navratilova’s spirits were lifted by the support of the tennis world, and in particular her close friend Chris Evert, who was diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer in December 2021. Evert too was treated at the Sloane Kettering centre.
“Of course, the careers are always intertwined, and then we follow each other this way,” said Navratilova. “[Evert] was on Saturday Night Live years ago when she retired, and did a skit about how competitive we were. And I’m like ‘This is the kind of competition we don’t really need.’
“But I must say Chris has been just a stalwart, she has supported me so much through this, as I supported her a year ago. Little did I know that it was going to be reciprocated in this manner, but she’s been great.”
Navratilova said the experience had persuaded her to re-evaluate plans to adopt a child with her wife, Julia Lemigova, suggesting there was “just not enough space for this to happen”.
“I think it’s just too complicated and the energy, I only have so much now,” said Navratilova.