Osbourne Says $250K DNA Screening Saved Her Life
Over the last fifteen years or so, the lives of Sharon and Ozzy Osbournehave pretty much been open books for all to gawk at. Now Sharon is opening the book to show how DNA testing saved her life.
"It was hugely expensive –- $250,000," she told Howard Stern, "The scientists wanted to see how Ozzy had lived so long despite the drink and drugs." After convincing Ozzy to do it, the doctors told her they wanted to test her as well. "My husband walks away and he is genetically blessed and is perfect, thank God. But I had colon, breast and ovarian cancer genes," Sharon said.
Upon learning her results, Mrs. Osbourne decided to have a double mastectomy. "For me, it wasn't a big decision, it was a no-brainer. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life with that shadow hanging over me," she said at the time. "I want to be around for a long time and be a grandmother. I didn’t even think of my breasts in a nostalgic way, I just wanted to be able to live my life without that fear all the time."
"I had my entire breasts cut off and they rebuilt them," she said delving deeper into the TMI jar with Stern, adding, "They look very small and perky, like they belong on somebody else but me. I have only got one nipple but I am going to have the other done ... When you’re my age it is not that I don’t care, it’s that I am past all that. I love being glamorous and looking the part, but it is not the be all and end all. Remember I was bald from cancer, no fingernails and toenails with chemo, and now it is the t--s."
It's been a whirlwind year for Osbourne, who saw her son Jack become the father of a baby girl and get married this year, but her family also dealt with learning about Jack's multiple sclerosis diagnosis.