The award-winning stage, screen, and television actress spent years dealing with a treatment disparity that is on the rise: reverse ageism. “Getting a diagnosis for this disease is difficult at my age,” says Rodriguez, who’s now playing the glass-slippered maiden of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods. “If you’re in your twenties, it’s a nonstarter for some physicians.” Changing trends in the age of onset for some cancers suggest that physicians need to revisit their misconceptions. A review article published in February 2022 in the British Journal of Cancer that tracked 98 studies revealed a clear climb in the incidence of breast cancers, as well as colorectal, kidney, pancreatic, and uterine cancers, among those younger than the “typical” individuals diagnosed with these diseases. Although the mechanism driving the age of onset is unknown, the authors concluded that the effect has been to subject younger patients to a greater chance of “diagnostic delays.” Rodriguez, now 38 and well past her five-year cancer remission milestone, spent the second half of her twenties trapped in that unsettling limbo between symptom — a breast lump that she discovered in 2009 — and diagnosis in 2014. And it was all because of her youth.
Early Days
“At age 25, I noticed a lump,” Rodriguez recalls. “My gynecologist checked it and ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound technician asked how old I was and if I had any family history” of breast cancer. Even though the technician saw something on the ultrasound, Rodriguez says, the next utterance became a yearly refrain: “You’re probably fine.” “Every year after that,” she says, “at my annual gynecological exam, my doctor would order an ultrasound. I would get the ultrasound and they would say I was fine.” Although the actress desperately hoped that judgment was correct, she inwardly feared that it might be wrong. But statistics put her at a credibility disadvantage. Only 9 percent of breast cancers fit the category of “early onset,” as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; that is, occurring before age 45. Two decades younger than the official threshold, she didn’t meet the prevailing description of a breast cancer candidate. Because of that, medical experts failed to find what they never really looked for.
The Turning Point
Rodriguez was already a veteran of the stage when she found the lump: She had performed in Good Vibrations in 2005, Spring Awakening in 2006 (and in a later Deaf West revival), A Chorus Line in 2007, and In the Heights in 2008. Over the next two years, she portrayed Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family: A New Musical, earning a Broadway.com Audience Award. After her doctor sounded a kind of “all clear,” she took his advice and, putting her cancer fears aside, pushed forward with her career. Among the highlights: In 2011, she added Bye Bye Birdie, a guest appearance on Gossip Girl, and two television movies — Iceland and Shadow of Fear — to her resume. In 2013, she performed on Broadway in First Date, as a guest on the web series It Could Be Worse, and in the cast of NBC’s Smash. Then, in 2014, her breast began to bleed. “Even after I’d bled, the doctor was dismissive,” she says. “He again asked my age and said it was probably a benign growth. But this time he did order a biopsy.” At that point, she says, “I felt that there was no way it could be cancer. I was convinced we’d figure out what else this thing could be.” Then came the biopsy results and everything changed. Called in for her follow-up appointment, she was told that she needed to see a cancer specialist. “This was really happening,” she said. “I had cancer.” Barely 30, Rodriguez was diagnosed with stage 3 ductal carcinoma, as defined by Mayo Clinic. Although the prognosis was guardedly positive, she learned that the disease, for which she’d likely have undergone a lumpectomy a few years earlier, now required surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy. The overdue diagnosis also meant that critical decisions had to be made quickly: whether to have, for example, a single mastectomy or a “bilateral” (double) mastectomy. “Every male plastic surgeon wanted me to keep the breast that was free of cancer,” she says, “and every female doctor understood my fear that, if I didn’t remove the other breast, I’d have to do this all over again.” She opted for an aggressive assault. It began with a three-month course of tumor-shrinking medication, followed by four months of chemotherapy. After that, she scheduled a double mastectomy with reconstruction and a final course of radiation.
The Medical Journey
Ironically, the same factor that had to led to initial skepticism was now a source of heightened attention and focus. Again, it was all about her age. “If you’re going to live for 50 more years, people take you more seriously,” says Rodriguez. From the start, it was clear that her daily life would be greatly altered by her treatment protocol. That meant she would have to determine whether — in her very public field — it made more sense to share her medical journey with colleagues and fans, or to attempt to conceal it. “I’d at first thought I just wouldn’t work for a while because I’d be sick or bald in a profession that’s all about aesthetics,” she says. “But as I began chemo, I realized I’d have to go public if I didn’t want to lie to people.” She gathered up her courage and made the announcement. The response was overwhelming, encouraging, and deeply motivating, “It was the first time I’d done something so public where I felt total support,” Rodriguez says. Many within and outside her profession offered assistance and, she recalls, “I even received a voicemail from an actor I barely knew, who said, ‘Sometimes, it’s better to ask someone you don’t really know for help. I will be that person.’” Her disclosure also led her on some unexpected paths — to a role, for example, as a cancer patient in the ABC Family (now Freeform) series Chasing Life, which aired in 2014 and 2015. “I was totally bald on the show, doing fake chemo and then getting real chemo the next day,” she says. “I had treatments every third week and was available for the next two.”
The Special Concerns of Younger Patients
Rodriguez was asked by Cosmopolitan Magazine to pen a blog, Chemo Couture, documenting her treatment while sharing fashion, wellness, and beauty tips. At the same time, fellow Broadway actress and breast cancer survivor Mandy Gonzalez of the Broadway musical Hamilton recruited Rodriguez to help promote the mission of the nonprofit ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis, an organization that matches patients with mentors based on diagnosis, age, and treatment protocols. Now an active supporter, Rodriguez recently starred in the organization’s virtual event and fundraiser, A Night In With ABCD. It was yet another opportunity to give voice to an often-overlooked population of younger cancer patients. “We absolutely consider age another form of disparity and actually have a high percentage of younger women who call us,” says Ellen Friebert Schupper, ABCD’S executive director. “These younger patients are burdened with many concerns that others don’t have to think about and it’s especially important for them to not feel alone.” Rodriguez echoes that sentiment, freely sharing her observations and advice with others who have breast cancer.
Looking Back and Ahead
“I feel grateful to be able to help other women go through the breast cancer experience in a conscious and not scary way because I know that cancer can be so lonely,” Rodriguez says. “But, as I tell other women, the things you’re afraid of at first never turn out to be as bad as your own fears and anxieties.” Her most salient message is simple: Breast cancer, Rodriguez says, will surely change your life, but in some surprisingly positive ways, too. “Looking back, the time I spent dealing with cancer was not the worst point of my life,” she says. “Because of it, I approach my career differently, seeking out roles that capture the messier and more complex woman I’ve become. And I try to no longer worry about petty things. Instead, I meet my challenges, and find joy in that.” Her counsel to other young women, particularly those who feel sidelined by a skeptical medical establishment, is to be proactive, persistent, and powerful. “Don’t be afraid to listen to yourself and keep moving, and if your doctor isn’t paying attention to you, someone else will,” Rodriguez says. “When a door closes, climb through the window.”
