"Which kick-a** car do I want to drive if I live a year?": Cancer-free Martina Navratilova opens up about fear of death, Chris Evert's support & more
Martina Navratilova, who was diagnosed with cancer for the second time earlier this year, has treated her fans to the best news possible, revealing that she is cancer-free once again.
Speaking to Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show, the 18-time Grand Slam champion confirmed the news, stating that while she still has some preventative radiation to receive, her doctors have declared her "cancer-free" for the moment.
After being first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, the American icon was struck down by throat and breast cancer the second time around. Speaking to Morgan, Navratilova revealed that she was in "total panic" after receiving the diagnosis, wondering if she would be able to last till next Christmas.
The former World No. 1 also made a morbid joke about how she immediately made a bucket list, planning which "kick-a**" car she would like to drive if she was going to live only for one more year.
"I was in a total panic for three days thinking I may not see next Christmas. 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, okay, ‘Which kick-a** car do I really want to drive if I live like a year?’" Navratilova said.
The 66-year-old also spoke about the help she received from tennis rival and good friend Chris Evert, another cancer survivor herself. Navratilova had nothing but words of praise for the American, disclosing that Evert supported her throughout the journey and calling her a "star" for having her back during this time.
“Our careers are always intertwined and then we follow each other this way. You can’t just make it up. The parallels are unbelievable. Same place. Some of the same nurses. Chris has been just a star. She has supported me so much through this as I supported her a year ago. We were always there for each other no matter what," Martina Navratilova said.
The American opined that it has been an emotional roller-coaster for her and her wife Julia Lemigova, adding that being a tennis champion helped her immensely in tackling the ups and downs she had to endure the last few months.
"So, phew, big, big relief, but emotionally I’ve been up and down because of what the doctor initially told me. I’m like, okay, so what do we do now? You get into tennis mode, that’s where having been a champion athlete comes in pretty handy,” Martina Navratilova said.
"That’s when I started crying on the table" - Martina Navratilova on finding out she had not one but two cancers at the same time
Martina Navratilova admitted during the interview that finding out that she had not only throat cancer but also another breast cancer to go with it left her emotionally drained, revealing that she broke down crying after hearing the news.
“I find out it’s throat cancer, I think I could be dying, but then I find out, no, it’s very treatable. Then when I had the biopsy on the right breast the doctor was saying, ‘This doesn’t look great’. That’s when I started crying on the table as she’s still poking and getting samples out of my boob."
"And I’m like, ‘Oh great, now I have two cancers at the same time that are not related. Who else has two cancers at the same time?’” Martina Navratilova said.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion also touched on how she and her wife had to drop their plans for adoption after her cancer diagnosis, lamenting that they had no other choice as it would be too complicated to go through during this already stressful period.
We were thinking about adopting but that’s definitely put on hold, and I don’t think it’s going to happen," Navratilova said. "I think it’s just too complicated and I only have so much energy right now.”