“She’s Part of Our Family”: Charles Barkley Extols Cancer Fighter and CNN Colleague for Brave Public Confession

CNN’s Sara Sidner recently broke the shocking news that she is fighting breast cancer. Sidner announced that she has stage 3 breast cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy for the same. The 51-year-old also made revelations about the reality of this disease, especially for Black women.

Upon hearing this news, Charles Barkley, who is also part of the CNN family, reached out to her. Barkley has his show King Charles with Gayle King that airs on CNN.

Charles Barkley gives a special shoutout to CNN colleague

Sir Charles started the recent episode of The Steam Room podcast with a special shoutout to Sidner. He said that he is extremely proud of her for being so open about something as serious as cancer. Barkley said, “I wanna give a shoutout to Sara Sidner, the CNN anchor. I just wanna tell her I’m thinking about her. Her coming out publicly, she’s got stage 3 breast cancer. The way she handled it with class and dignity.”

Barkley said that he reached out to her as soon as he heard the news and wanted to give this special shoutout on his podcast as well. He said, “What a gutsy thing to get on television and say. I wish her nothing but the best. She’s obviously very talented. She’s part of our family at CNN. I just wanna wish her nothing but the best and say, hey girl, you go girl.” Sir Charles is really impressed by the way she is carrying herself even through such a dire situation in her life, and for thinking about other people and spreading awareness about breast cancer through her example.

Sidner broke the news to the public on her show. She said, “Just take a second to recall the names of eight women who you love and know in your life. Just eight. Count them on your fingers. Statistically, one of them will get or have breast cancer. I am that one in eight in my friend group.”

“It is hard to say out loud. I am in my second month of chemo treatments and will do radiation and a double mastectomy,” she added.

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Sidner said that despite never smoking, rarely drinking alcohol, and no history of breast cancer in her family, she has been diagnosed with the disease. She said, “If you happen to be a Black woman, you are 41 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than your white counterparts.” Despite being in the thick of things, Sidner used her platform to raise awareness about breast cancer, especially in her community.

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