Cheri Oteri Reveals Breast Cancer Removal, How Jill Biden Was “So Supportive”: “I Was Blown Away”

Cheri Oteri has recently undergone successful surgery for breast cancer, with a supportive group of friends that includes First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

The Saturday Night Live alum revealed she was diagnosed with Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) but feels “great” after having her second lumpectomy in recent weeks, noting “everything looks normal and fine” after the operation.

Recounting a recent Milken Institute dinner, where she met Biden and bonded over their mutual love of Pennsylvania, where she found it “so serendipitous” to be surrounded by women’s healthcare professionals and the former first lady, who has led the Biden Breast Health Initiative since 1993.

“And she started laughing and we just started talking,” she recalled to Chelsea Handler on the Dear Chelsea podcast. “And then I’m sitting with all of these women, all of these accomplished, powerful women, in all these different occupations in women’s healthcare, and there were investors there. And I’m just listening to everybody speak.”

Oteri added, “And it was the weirdest thing because I was just diagnosed with DCIS, with breast cancer.”

DCIS is described as an early form of breast cancer in which cancer cells are stuck in the milk duct but have not spread to the breast tissue, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“I’m sitting there quiet, and I’m like, this is so serendipitous,” said Oteri of her friend’s invitation. “And I’m listening to all these women, and then at the end, Jill came up to me and we were saying goodbye, and I told her that I was just diagnosed and she said, ‘When is your surgery?’ And I said, ‘The 26th.’ And she said, ‘All right, you’re gonna get tired of me. … I’m going through this with you.’ This woman, before my surgery, after my surgery, she just she goes, ‘I am with you on this.’ I was blown away.

“That is a woman with a huge heart, and through everything, she’s checking on me, and just a beautiful human being. So, I never felt so supported, by my friends, my girlfriends,” she added.

Oteri noted that she “caught it early,” stressing, “So, that’s my message to everybody too, is get your mammogram. I caught it really early.”

The Scary Movie 6 actress also told listeners to “get a second opinion” after her first doctor “suggested something way more aggressive” than was necessary.