Katherine LaNasa is fresh off an Emmy win for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Nurse Dana Evans in The Pitt. Actors draw inspiration from many sources when creating a performance. In February 2023, LaNasa was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer. The actor used this experience to inform her performance, particularly her interaction with the nurses who cared for her.
LaNasa shared the journey of her diagnosis and treatment in a heartfelt essay for Women’s Health. There is so much to take from her experience, not least of which is getting regular mammograms – and there’s no time like October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to remind us.
When you hear the word “cancer”, you feel like you’ve been walking upstairs and missed a step. As LaNasa put it, “You hear the word ‘cancer’, and you're worried you're going to die.” But this was not to be LaNasa’s fate. After undergoing surgery and radiation, she recovered, although she did find herself in an ER post-radiaton, where a nurse came to comfort her. These interactions have informed her character, with small but significant gestures even written into The Pitt, like a nurse handing her a blanket during a scan, which Nurse Dana also does for a patient.
Her biggest lesson, LaNasa says, was learning to effectively deal with stress. While stress’s links to cancer are still being explored, it has been linked to cancer development. LaNasa embraced staying positive, framing everything she went through in a positive light. Coming out of the experience, she determined to get a better handle on stress; while stress may not cause cancer, it can lead to other health problems. Managing stress is a lesson many can take from LaNasa’s journey. Of course, it’s easier said than done. Circumstances differ from person to person, country to country – which is why a caring gesture or a kind word at the right moment can make all the difference.
In her Emmy speech and speaking to the press afterwards, LaNasa thanked the nurses who supported her and even paid tribute to them with the seal blue blow on her dress, representing a traditional nursing colour. Thank you, Katherine, for your performance and sharing your inspiring story. And thank you to all the nurses who sing at our bedsides, share a cheeky joke, bring us a blanket, comfort and reassure us. We see you and we thank you.
Watch The Pitt season 1 on Mondays at 21:00 on M-Net channel 101 or catch up on DStv Stream here.
Read Katherine LaNasa's full essay here.
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Feature image: HBO