by Lynette Alice

Created on: March 22, 2010

Actress Shannon Tweed revealed she had a brush with breast cancer on the season premiere of Gene Simmons Family Jewels on A&E. While Simmons has been known to go to extremes to get ratings for his show, both he and Tweed to whom he is “happily unmarried” made it very clear after the episode aired that this was a very real scare that was not manufactured for television.

Over the course of the show, it was revealed that while Shannon Tweed and her sister, Tracy Tweed, were out clothes shopping, she discovered a lump on her left breast while trying on an outfit. She went to see Dr. Kristi Funk immediately who confirmed  there was unusual growth and consistency to the fibers that make up the breast for a woman of Tweeds age. To complicate matters, Simmons was on tour with his band KISS at the time.

During the remainder of the program, Tweed did reveal to her children, Nick and Sophie, that she was having a biopsy and that until the results were in she did not want to jump to any conclusions - a sentiment she wanted to reinforce in Simmons as well. Simmons for his part did perform the show he was at with Tweed’s urging, but did return home after a distraught phone call from their son Nick and was with Tweed for her follow-up appointment.

Tweed has been involved with raising money for various breast cancer awareness and treatment programs for many years. She revealed that on her side of the family, breast cancer has been a very serious problem having already claimed struck at least four women in the family she knew of with mixed ultimate results. This was disclosed while discussing the problem with her daughter Sophie.

Both Tweed and Simmons also revealed the process Shannon Tweed went through dealing with her breast cancer scare will be a focal point of this season of their show Gene Simmons Family Jewels which follows the lives of them and their kids. Both Simmons and Tweed stated that if they can use the program to help make women and men alike aware of breast cancer and chronicle the process and reactions of those involved it is an important and socially responsible thing to do.

Tweed’s doctor, Kristi Funk MD, also recommended that all women should have a baseline mammogram at age 35 and begin repeating them annually when they reach 40 even if they identify nothing unusual from performing a BSE (Breast Self Examination). Lisa Masterson, MD, echoed this advice with both trying to impress upon everyone that cancer doubles in size

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