Kristina Guerrero first made a name for herself as a red carpet mainstay on E! News and later by hosting The List which aired right here on ABC15 and on televisions across the country. Now, Guerrero is opening up like never before about her deeply personal battle with breast cancer, and how through the heartache, she also managed to find hope.
This is the Guerrero so many of us know and love — the dynamic TV host and journalist with her limitless energy and a mega-watt smile.
But there is another side of her that gets revealed in a brand new documentary on her Instagram page.
"Tomorrow, some of my body will be taken away," she explains in that documentary, which chronicles her journey through breast cancer.
Diagnosed in January, the 44-year-old veteran journalist decided to flip the script, putting her story-telling skills to good use, and turn the camera on herself.
"I walk through life as a storyteller," Guerrero explained. "And now, this particular story was really going to be good...I just happened to be in the middle of it!"
Doctors diagnosed Guerrero with an angiosarcoma. Johns Hopkins University defines it as a "rare form of cancer," making up just 0.1% of all breast cancers.
As uncommon as it is, it's equally as aggressive and can spread quickly throughout the body.
"Had I not gone in to my mammogram, if I would have let it go, it would have killed me. A thousand percent," explains Guerrero. "It [the mammogram] really saved my life...My breast surgeon told me, 'we have to get this out of you. My only job is to make sure you are here for your boys as long as possible.' When you say that, take my right arm. I don't care what we have to do. I have to live."
And live she did.
Guerrero's two boys not only provide her with much-needed inspiration but also the all-too-relatable moments in her documentary, which was put together by her husband, filmmaker Gibby Cevallos.
But there were also harder moments, filled with heartbreak and tears, especially after Guerrero's mastectomy.
"It's the day after surgery," Guerrero explains in the documentary. "I am feeling sore today. I was sore yesterday. Extra sore today. Emotionally, I am feeling OK. I don't know if it's a peace? Or denial?"
"There were times I sat and cried all day. I couldn't come out of the room," says Guerrero.
But through the darkness, there was light.
It would take one biopsy, two operations, six weeks of radiation, and nine months of fighting - and now, Guerrero is cancer-free.
Through her battle, she has learned to look at the physical and emotional scars as badges of honor.
"I have mourned the loss of losing part of my body. I have mourned the loss. I have grieved the loss. For me, it's a reminder that I won...There is something to be said about perspective on life - did this happen to me? Or for me? You can take any situation that is super challenging or super hard or seems that it's only despair or you can choose to change your perspective and grow from it or learn from it and that's what I chose to do because that's a way happier place to be than the alternative."
