Kym Douglas didn’t feel beautiful during her breast cancer treatment

Douglas has a large following who follow her expert advice on improving their appearance. Her professional career has included stints in local television news before appearing on daytime talk shows.

In 2018, her life changed when she underwent a mammogram for breast cancer screening. She admitted that she had not had an annual mammogram screening for three years. Douglas was expecting nothing and was shocked to learn that her mammogram revealed something troubling.

Douglas had stage zero breast cancer, or ductal carcinoma in situ.

WATCH: Understanding Stage Zero Breast Cancer

DCIS are abnormal cells that line the milk duct in the breast. A normal breast in a breastfeeding woman consists of many milk ducts that carry milk to the nipple. This type of breast cancer is noninvasive, meaning it has not spread outside the milk duct and cannot invade other parts of the breast.

“I was horrified. I still thought it was stage zero. There are four stages and I’m at zero,” which brought some relief to the mothers of three children.

Kym’s treatment helped to discover further tumors

Douglas underwent a bilateral mastectomy—the removal of both breasts—to treat the condition. She believed this would significantly reduce her risk of the cancer spreading. However, during treatment, doctors discovered three undetected tumors that raised her cancer stage to Stage 3.

A bilateral mastectomy involves removing both breasts. Some women choose this procedure to reduce their risk of cancer, especially if they have a family history of cancer or if they have the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, which also increase their risk.

WATCH: Dr. Elisa Port explains what happens during a bilateral mastectomy.

“A bilateral mastectomy usually takes about two hours for the cancer part of the surgery, the removal of the tissue,” Dr. Elisa Port, chief of breast surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, tells SurvivorNet. “The actual time, the total length of the surgery, can often depend on what type of reconstruction (a patient) has.”

Douglass now needed more aggressive treatment, which included several weeks of chemotherapy, radiation and breast reconstruction.

“The chemo was hell. The radiation was even worse,” Douglas explained.

Chemotherapy stops cancer cells from growing, dividing, and spreading to other organs. Chemotherapy works by traveling through the bloodstream and killing the cancer cells. However, the process also affects healthy cells, causing side effects.

SEE: Coping with the side effects of chemotherapy.

Your doctor will help you manage the side effects by either adjusting your medication or giving you recommendations for coping, such as pressure bracelets and breathing exercises for nausea or cryotherapy to minimize hair loss.

Understanding beauty and gratitude

Douglas said she lost her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes during treatment, all of which are common side effects of chemotherapy. However, hair often grows back after chemotherapy is completed.

Douglas finds it ironic that her job promises beauty, but she herself feels far from it.

“Here I am talking about beauty in HD television… I was telling women how they could be beautiful and look like Godzilla’s daughter,” Douglas said.

“My body was pretty torn up, it was rugged and pretty ugly,” Douglas added.

Then the fashion guru had an epiphany. While she was pondering in her garden, she realized that her hair had grown back over time, but her view of life and its beauty had evolved.

“My insides have completely changed. In a good way. Now I have compassion for people. I have mercy. I know what it’s like to be literally brought to your knees. I know what it’s like to have everything taken away from you,” Douglas explained.

Today, Douglas continues to share fashion and beauty advice, but she has grown her following by reaching out to other breast cancer survivors and fighters. She hopes to use her platform to break the stigma surrounding cancer and aging.

“Be thankful for what we have,” Douglas said.

WATCH: Dr. Zuri Murrell explains why gratitude is important during cancer treatment.

Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colon cancer surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told SurvivorNet that his cancer patients who live with gratitude tend to tolerate treatment better.

Learn more about SurvivorNet’s rigorous medical review process.