Toks Olagundoye credits research for saving her life and allowing her to keep showing up as a mom, wife, and actress
Like many women, actress Toks Olagundoye missed her annual mammogram for a few years because life, motherhood, and her career simply got in the way.
“My gynecologist had been sending me for breast ultrasounds instead of mammograms, because I was breastfeeding,” she said. “After a couple years of that, he was like, ‘You need to get a mammogram.’ And I didn’t.”
But when a friend called to tell her she was getting a biopsy on a suspicious spot in her breast, Toks realized she couldn’t delay a mammogram any longer.
“I got that call and was like, ‘What am I doing? What am I doing? Oh, my God,’” she remembered.
She quickly scheduled a mammogram that revealed something suspicious. Initially, doctors thought she had ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a non-invasive form also known as stage 0, after spotting some microcalcifications in the imaging. But after she had a lumpectomy, she learned her diagnosis was worse: She had stage 1 triple-negative breast cancer—an aggressive form .
Cancer wasn’t foreign to Toks. With an extensive family history of the disease, she had been expecting it.
“My entire life, I’ve been waiting to get cancer,” she said. “And when I was diagnosed, I was like, ‘Ah, so this is the one I’m getting.’”
She remembered her doctor saying, “You have triple-negative breast cancer. Triple-negative moves very quickly, and it kills women all the time.”
For Toks, though, this wasn’t scary or upsetting. It was annoying. “I was like, I’m a working mother. I’ve got a household to run. I’ve got stuff to do,” she said.
The support of her family––especially her husband, Sean––helped Toks feel supported during her diagnosis. “I don’t wish cancer on anyone, but I have personally had silver linings because of it. Not giving a crap is one of them. And my husband and I were already very close, but we now have this bond that is insane,” she said.
Despite initial fears about how her diagnosis might impact her career, Toks received kindness and support from her colleagues on Fatal Attraction and later on the reboot of Fraiser. She remembers her Fraiser executive producer telling her: “I had no idea you were going through this. I’m so sorry. You’re not getting fired. Everything’s going to be fine.”
Toks ultimately underwent a double mastectomy plus four rounds of chemotherapy. She continued working throughout treatment, finding it healing rather than burdensome.
“I loved that I had work,” she said. “The idea of lying in bed all day, that was not for me. I get to do my favorite thing in the entire world besides being a mom.”
Growing up with a Nigerian family where secrecy is often valued, Toks chose transparency in sharing her diagnosis online. “I think that everybody should know where I’m at,” she said. This openness created an unexpected support network, and she connected with thrivers who provided practical guidance and emotional support.
The experience shifted Toks’s perspective, making her less anxious about small things while strengthening both her marriage and her sense of purpose.
“I feel like women are taught that we put everyone else in front of us, so that means everyone else’s health as well,” she said. “But we have to put your health number one, and then you get to take care of everyone else.”
In a world where breast cancer diagnoses are rising for women under 50 at an alarming rate and where women often aren’t heard, Toks, who was 46 when she was diagnosed, wants women to advocate for themselves.
“If your doctor is not listening to you, go to another doctor,” she said.
Toks credits research advancements with saving her life—and particularly the imaging technology that initially detected tiny calcifications in her breast that would have been missed otherwise. Research, she said, has been accelerating at a rapid pace.
Read more stories from BCRF’s Research Is the Reason storytelling initiative here.
