Last October, stunned Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta fans tuned in to watch Say Yes to the Cure: Lori’s Fight, an emotional, no-punches-pulled special that followed the series’ beloved star Lori Allen as she embarked on an exhausting yearlong battle with breast cancer.
Then they crashed the computer servers at Allen’s Bridals By Lori boutique with messages of solidarity and support.
On Oct. 4, TLC will air an updated version of the Say Yes to the Cure, eighteen months after Allen’s diagnosis, that allows viewers to relive moments from the emotional original special and receive updates from Lori and her family on her current progress, and the inspiring response Allen has received from SYTTD fans.
“You know, I’ve always been the leader, and I’m the strong person — in my family, at the store, in my friendships — and I like that position,” Allen says. “But I had to let people see a very vulnerable side of me. I cried the entire time the special aired, but on the flipside of it, the outpouring of love and support of the viewers and the fans of the show just blew me away! I was totally unprepared for that. I mean, I’m talking thousands of emails, and I have big, big plastic buckets filled with presents and blankets and I can’t even remember it all. But I’ve kept them all and now that it’s been a year, I’m looking back on it all and I’m so thankful! There are so many good people out there!”
I caught up with Allen recently to talk about her health, what drives her to keep sharing her story — and how she almost blew her chance to be a guest at the White House!
Channel Guide Magazine: We last spoke a year ago, before Say Yes to the Cure: Lori’s Fight premiered. What have the past 12 months brought for you health-wise?
Lori Allen: I’ve gotten a little stronger every day! I had the latissimus flap surgery — where they remove the muscles from underneath your shoulders and then they move them around to front of you — so in the beginning, I felt like my back was in the front [laughs]. So those muscles are in the front now and I have implants. Heavy! I never had much bust anyway, and, oh my gosh, those things are heavy!
So it’s been an adjustment period for me, getting used to that. At the very beginning, I was pretty immobile and I had a lot of trouble with tightening of the cords in my armpits, so I went to physical therapy. There is a place here called Turning Point in Alpharetta and it’s just for mastectomy patients and breast cancer patients for physical therapy. So I went there to do a lot of physical therapy and, you know, it took me a little while to bounce back. But I feel like I’m probably 95 percent there, and I think the other 5 percent is from taking the [aromatase inhibitor] Arimidex. That kind of makes me tired. I’m still trying to get the right mix of medicine for me, and it’s just going to take a while. That part of it has been a struggle, because I’ve never really taken much medicine — just a couple of Tylenol.
And also just emotionally, you don’t realize until you go through all of that and you have some months to process it what an emotional toll it takes to just get through it. But I really feel good now. And I’m so glad I went through the mastectomy after I didn’t have the clear margins with the double lumpectomy. My doctor said I had atypical cells all over, so I did the right thing in the end. It was just a winding path to get there!
CGM: As we’ll see in the updated special, you’ve had some great things happen on a personal level, too.
LA: I did get to go to the White House! That was so funny, because I got an invitation to their Breast Cancer Awareness Month reception in October and I said to my husband, “Eddie, this is fake! Look at this. Somebody is playing a prank on me, and this is fake.” And he goes, “Yeah, it probably is.” So I tossed it off to the side and then Eddie goes, “Well, I’m just going to call this number…”
So he calls the number and they answer, “Vice President Biden’s secretary. How can I help you?” And Eddie’s like, “Um …” [laughs] He said, “This Eddie Allen. I’m Lori Allen’s husband and is she on the list for this party?” And they said, “Oh yes, Mr. Allen, we would love to have her …” and we just hooted laughing!
But to make a long story short, I was meant to go to this, because I was really feeling down and I went and it was nothing but breast cancer survivors there at this party, which was so beautiful. And if you remember, Joe Biden’s first wife and his daughter were killed in a car accident, and he spoke to us that night about how much courage it takes to carry on and to keep telling your story to others and how exhausting that is. But you just gotta keep forcefully going forward and sharing — because sharing makes it have a reason. And it does! Sharing our story justifies to me, in my head, our getting cancer. Because I’ve always been so healthy, and so careful about what I eat and I exercise and this, that and the other — so you have to be able to justify what happened to you in your head some way.
And then Jill Biden stood up and talked about my breast cancer and I was like, “Hey, I’m just a normal lady — I don’t know what you’re talking about my breast cancer! But she did and it was so awesome and so sweet. So many wonderful things have happened out of something so bad. Such an outpouring of love.
And then our show was up for an award! It’s called the Realscreen Award and ours was for Best Health and Well-Being Programming and we won! We beat Oprah Winfrey, honey! I danced a jig!
CGM: I bet Oprah wouldn’t mind at all losing out to you…
LA: Oh, she’s so sweet! I met her at a party not too long ago and she was so sweet! But that was before I beat her, and the next time I see her, I’m going to say, “Oprah, I beat you!”
So a lot of really good things have happened out of it!
CGM: You’re also tireless in getting your story out there to inspire other women to care for their own health …
LA: I do a ton of breast cancer speeches all over the country and even in Canada. I share my story and I just talk about what I’ve been through and try to encourage others.
And my life has changed. It really has. As much as you want your life to be normal after breast cancer, it’s never going to be the same. I don’t think any breast cancer patient can say, “My life is exactly like it was before.” Because that’s just not going to be. You’re not the same. We’ve been through something really bad and we should be proud of ourselves. Over 200,000 more women will face breast cancer next year. And it’s your sister and it’s your mom and your cousin — it touches all of us. And breast cancer doesn’t show favoritism — it doesn’t care how healthy or how young you are. You’ve got to watch it!
CGM: How does it feel knowing you’ve been the catalyst for so many women getting their mammograms and doing their self-exams — and a mentor to women battling cancer that you haven’t even met?
LA: That justifies to me why I had breast cancer. I think women can relate to me, because I don’t put myself up on pedestal, and I’m not any different than any other woman. And I think that people really relate to me. And being able to share my story made it all worthwhile.
Because I’ll tell you, a lot of days, filming that story was extremely difficult for me. A lot of days it was. I thought to myself “Why am I doing this?” And in the back of my mind I was thinking, ”Because you’ve got to tell your story.”
That’s what I loved about how TLC handled it — they really told my story the way I wanted it told. And as a result, I don’t know how many women found that they had cancer. Several women even told me that while the show was airing they were doing the self-exam and finding lumps. Things like that that they never would have done. And I’m just honored to help them out. I’m just really honored.
And I think, too, in me going on filming and my still working at the store, they see that — while internally I’m different and externally I look a little bit different because of these heavy, heavy implants [laughs] and I may look a little bit more tired because cancer does that to you — you don’t look like a monster. I think that’s what people are afraid of. Am I going to be OK? What am I going to look like? Am I still going to be attractive? Am I still going to be able to wear my clothes? All those crazy thoughts that run through your head.
CGM: You weren’t afraid to go in front of the cameras anyway…
LA: I did a public service announcement and several commercials for TLC about breast cancer when I had just gotten out of the hospital — I hadn’t been out for more than two or three weeks — and I look so bad in those commercials [laughs loudly]. When I saw them, I thought, boy you can really tell! When you look in the mirror, you don’t always see how sick you are, but when I looked at those commercials, I can really see how sick I was. You can tell it by your eyes and the color of your skin. And I remember, I couldn’t sit back in the chair, because I had had the latissimus flap and I had all those stiches and I couldn’t sit back in the chair to shoot those commercials. I had to sit up. So we kept having to take breaks.
And now I think about what I’m doing now and how I’m out walking around and I’m playing with my dogs and I’m enjoying life. And there’s no way I’m going to let breast cancer stop me from enjoying life. No way.
CGM: But because you are on television and people do look up to you and how you’ve handled your battle, do you find it sometimes hard to set boundaries in terms of allowing yourself a break from being Lori Allen, Breast Cancer Patient?
LA: Yes I do. And I have to define my own boundaries, because I don’t want to only be known for breast cancer. But on the flipside of that, I have such an important story to share right now and I think so many people relate to me that I feel like I have to share it. So when the chance arises and I feel like it is a venue that will hit home for a lot of people and they’ll listen to my story and maybe take something home from it, and go get that mammogram that they didn’t go get in the past, I’ll do it. But I cannot do every single one.
So I do have a little bit more trouble. The average person does go through all this, but they’re not on national TV and they’re not asked continually to speak about it. And it’s tiring for me. And it’s draining for me to talk about breast cancer. It’s still emotional for me — it’s still gut-wrenching. But I have to do it. I feel like I have to do it. And it’s not getting any easier, honey! [laughs] I cannot tell that story without getting choked up.
And I think also, everyone’s path is different. That’s what I really wanted to hit home with during the breast cancer special. You know, I’m not telling people to get the latissimus flap. I’m not saying get a mastectomy. You gotta figure that stuff out yourself — what works for you, what you’re comfortable with. That’s for you and doctor to decide, and everybody’s different. From my very first appointment, my daughter said, “Get a mastectomy!” That’s the way she thought — get the double mastectomy. And I couldn’t do it. And not that I had any great boobs, either, honey, let me tell you! But she was, like, just get it off! And I just couldn’t do it. I had to do it my way.
So now, I find if I let myself get down in the dumps about this, I feel bad all over. And I don’t want anyone to be afraid for me. So if I do get sad about this, or I do get down, it will be at home, it will be for a few minutes and then I’ll say, “Lori, put your big-girl panties on and get going!”
CGM: In the updated special, we also get to see you attend DeLese Range’s vow renewal ceremony after we saw her shopping for her gown in the original hour.
LA: It was just a beautiful thing! She’s so inspirational. I actually was in the hospital when she filmed here, so getting to attend her vow renewal was just a really special thing. So many people have asked how I’m doing, how DeLese is doing and you’re going to find that out. And you’re going to see two women that have real fighting spirits. We’re both kindred spirits in the fact that both she and I are not going to let cancer rule our lives. And that’s what I really think is the message that we want the show to send out.
So thank goodness that people want to know how we’re doing and to share in that!
CGM: Over the years, we watched you help multiple brides who’ve either battled breast cancer themselves or had a family member who did. Now that you’re in that battle yourself, do you find that you’re even more in tune with them, both in terms of their fight and how they view their bodies in their dresses?
LA: Absolutely! Before I always felt a kindred spirit to girls whose mothers had breast cancer or whose mothers had died of breast cancer. Now, on top of that, I feel more compassionate — even more so than before. And I almost feel like I’m here to act as a strong guide point for them. Yes, I can help them with how the dress is going to fit but I can also be a sounding board and I can also be encouragement to them that life does go on.
CGM: And how else has life gone on for you in ways that cancer cannot touch?
LA: Well, we’re still filming Say Yes to the Dress — and we’re filming a lot! I have a 2-year-old granddaughter and I have a lot of fun with her. And my husband and I are trying to take a little bit more time off, but I’m working like crazy [laughs].
And you know what? I felt like, at the end of the first year, I just needed new around me. So I just had my house, like, freakin’ bombed! [laughs] We’re redecorating it from top to bottom. Because I told Eddie, after you’ve been through breast cancer and you’re on the other side — it’s almost like a bit of a rebirth. And I want different things around me. I do! My taste has totally changed. So that’s been fun for me, too.
And I’m enjoying life. I really am! I am not sweating all the small stuff! I’m not letting myself worry about three beads that fell off of somebody’s train. Now, I’m going to take care of those three beads — I’m going to fix it. But that kind of stuff used to keep me up at night and it does not anymore. Uh-uh!
The updated version of Say Yes to the Cure: Lori’s Fight premieres Friday, Oct. 4, at 8/7CT on TLC.
Image/video: TLC
