Clea Shearer is now cancer-free.
“The Home Edit” co-founder and star of Netflix’s “Get Organized with The Home Edit” took to Instagram to share the good news and celebrate a hard-fought victory in her battle against breast cancer with powerful photos and a moving message.
"I’m done! Today marks my journey from cancer patient, to cancer SURVIVOR," she wrote. "I haven’t stopped crying since I was able to ring the bell."
Ringing the bell is a precious moment in a cancer patient’s journey as it marks the end of treatment. In the carousel of black-and-white photos that accompanied Shearer’s message, she can be seen beaming as she got her chance to do just that.
Other photos in the set show the 40-year-old reaching her medical milestone with tears alongside her husband, John Shearer.
"What a year this has been since being diagnosed on March 8th," she continued in her post. "On April 8th I went into surgery for my double mastectomy, unsure what my treatment plan would be. I woke up after 9 hours of surgery to find out the cancer had made it’s way into my lymph nodes, which would mean chemo and radiation were a necessity… As I was trying to digest that information, 7 days later, I had to go back into surgery for necrosis (my skin was not going to make it). But after my second surgery I started healing really well and made it through with flying colors."
Shearer then endured months of chemotherapy, but stopped in September, when her body was no longer producing white blood cells. She began radiation the following month.
"But here I sit, on Nov 22nd, 9 months after my diagnosis — and I’m cancer free," she wrote. "There have been so many silver linings that I want to highlight too. My mother moved in with us on April 6th right before my surgery, and only went back to California a few times (to visit my dad 😂). It’s crazy to say this, but we had the most special time? I never imagined at 40 years old I would live with my mom again, and I loved every minute."
In retrospect, it’s that extra time she spent with all of her loved ones that she appreciates so much now, as she explained that she’d never spent that “amount of time with John and the kids” either.
The mother of two added, "It’s a time in my life I will treasure, even though it was extremely difficult for all of us."
Shearer closed her post by expressing gratitude for her fans and followers who cheered her on throughout her battle.
"As my treatment journey comes to a close (although, it will never be over!), I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart," she noted. "The outpouring of love will stay with me always."
While the treatments she endured eradicated her cancer, the organizing pro played an important part in saving her own life, too.
Shearer explained during a visit to TODAY in June that she discovered a lump in her breast in February, and despite revealing that to her OB-GYN, she still faced lengthy delays in getting an appointment. So she made an appointment with her general practitioner instead and had a mammogram scheduled right away. That resulted in a diagnosis of stage 2 cancer and the discovery of two “aggressive and fast moving” tumors.
“When I felt that lump, I just was like, I can’t put this off just because life is too good,” the 40-year-old told anchor Savannah Guthrie. “I’d be in a really different place right now if I’d postponed what I knew was something.”