Broadway's Sara Chase Reveals Fallopian Tube Cancer Diagnosis: 'I'm Living My Greatest Dream and My Nightmare'

• Sarah Chase was diagnosed with fallopian tube cancer
• The Broadway actress kept her diagnosis a secret as she prepared for the role of Myrtle Wilson in the musical adaptation The Great Gatsby
• She had her fallopian tubes removed, a full hysterectomy and will undergo six rounds of chemotherapy

Most Broadway performers know how exhausting it can be to work eight shows a week. Try doing this while you’re also on chemotherapy.

That’s what Sara Chase is juggling right now. In an emotional interview on Broadway show with Tamsen Fadalthe Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actress — who treads the boards in the stage musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby — revealed for the first time that she is undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with fallopian tube cancer.

“I keep saying that I’m living my biggest dream and my nightmare at the same time,” Chase told Beth Stevens, editor-in-chief of Broadway.com, in a candid interview.

The 41-year-old, who plays Myrtle Wilson in the show, was weeks away from her first appearance in March when her health problem was revealed. In that time, The Great Gatsby finished a run at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse and was preparing to transfer to Broadway — a transfer that would give Chase her first credit on the Great White Way in more than 10 years, since her 2013 role. First date.

Sarah Chase.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

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Knowing she had a small window before rehearsals began, Chase decided to have her fallopian tubes removed as a precaution. It was a decision her doctor recommended given Chase’s family history of cancer and the fact that she has the BRCA gene, which has been found to affect a person’s chances of developing cancer.

“I thought it would be a year ago if I didn’t finish it now Gatsby it was over,” she recalled.

Everything seemed fine and Chase made it back in time for Broadway rehearsals to begin. But the next week she received a call from the doctor, asking if she was alone and sitting down. “You know that won’t be good,” Chase said.

She began to cry as she recalled that moment, the actress explained Broadway play that doctors found cancer in her fallopian tubes. Although it was caught early, they recommended a complete hysterectomy and six cycles of chemotherapy.

“Obviously the first thing you want to know is, ‘What’s the forecast?’ ” Chase said. “And then, of course, my second question was, ‘Can I continue Gatsby?’ ”

Chase and her doctor immediately came up with a treatment schedule so her career wouldn’t have to stop. “[The] the doctors were really so good about working with me and my schedule,” she said. “We scheduled surgery on the first day of the tech. I was recovering for three days, and on the fourth day I was back in the theater.”

Through it all, Chase made the decision not to tell anyone The Great Gatsbycreative team or management until April 26, the day after the official opening of the exhibition.

She confided in her set designer and assistant costume designer, to explain why she is “more extended”. She also made sure to keep her co-stars Jeremy Jordan, Eva Noblezada, Samantha Pauly, Noah J. Ricketts, and John Zdrojeski up to date.

“We became so close at the Paper Mill that it would be strange to hide something like that from them,” she said. “I was carrying a huge secret, but at least they knew it.”

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Sara Chase (seated, left) with the cast of ‘The Great Gatsby’.

Matthew Murphy

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Now, as Chase undergoes chemotherapy, she said she’s determined to keep working, sticking to her treatment and Broadway schedule day by day.

“It’s not easy to do both things at the same time,” the star admitted. “I just came from recording the album with the cast, which was a high, but then I started losing my hair too – which is such a weird day.”

“But we can do hard things,” she added, praising the supportive community that surrounds her. “And we can do difficult things only with the help of other people.”

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And even though he feels “all over the place,” Chase lives in gratitude, telling Stevens that he remembers “how happy I am.”

That is why he is now sharing his story, in the hope of raising awareness of those who may be able to avoid going through a similar situation.

“When the doctor told me the diagnosis, I said, ‘I promise you, if I survive this, I’m going to talk about it,'” Chase said, adding that she regrets not having her fallopian tubes removed “a year or two earlier” when she was initially advised to : “I hope that telling my story will help other people not have to go through this. If you know what you can do to help yourself, you should do it.”

Broadway show with Tamsen Fadal airs on weekends in syndication (check local listings). Tickets for The Great Gatsby they are on sale now.

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Source: HIS Education