The Bachelor alum Kelsey Anderson continues to screen for breast cancer after her mom’s fatal battle with the disease.
“I’ve had two lumpectomies. My mom, whenever she found a lump in her armpit, [would] have us all feel it,” Anderson, 27, said on the Tuesday, March 24, episode of the “Heal Squad” podcast, referring to her siblings. “She was always telling us we have to do our exams and what to look for.”
Kelsey, whose mom, Denise Anderson, died in 2018, found her first troublesome spot when she was a teenager.
“I think the first time I got a lumpectomy I was in high school,” she said. “It’s because my mom, the tumor that she had, felt [it] in her armpit. She went to the doctor, got it scanned, everything, and they were like, ‘It looks fine, you’re good.’”
Denise, however, had a “gut feeling” that a tumor that’s “not supposed to be” in her body shouldn’t be there in the first place.
“She got it removed a few weeks later, and they tested it and discovered that she had stage III and stage IV breast cancer,” Kelsey recalled. “From her experience, I feel like, ‘If it’s not supposed to be there, get it removed.’”
A lumpectomy is a medical procedure to remove part of the breast tissue and is often used to treat breast cancer. Surgeons remove any cancerous tumors and some of the surrounding healthy tissue.
“I got my first lumpectomy in high school and they didn’t think it was cancer, and then the second time I got a lumpectomy, they were not sure,” Kelsey said. “They were like, ‘It’s probably not cancer,’ and it wasn’t. They tested it and it was benign as well, but any time I feel a lump, I’m like, ‘If it’s not supposed to be there, I’m getting it out.’”
Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson attend HGTV’s first-ever event at the Bachelor Mansion to Celebrate “Bachelor Mansion Takeover” on March 12. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 12: (L-R) Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson attend HGTV’s first-ever event at the Bachelor Mansion to Celebrate “Bachelor Mansion Takeover” at The Bachelor Mansion on March 12, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for HGTV)
The reality TV alum has also weighed the possibility of getting a preventative double mastectomy, which would remove both breasts.
“[My mom] didn’t have the BRCA gene, and so it’s not likely that I have it. I think I want to get tested for it,” Kelsey noted. “If I had it, then I’d definitely think about it.”
Kelsey plans to get tested for the BRCA gene mutation, which is often linked to breast cancer, in “the next couple months” before her 2027 wedding to Joey Graziadei.
“Hopefully, it’s all good, and we’ll figure it out step by step,” Kelsey said. “I feel a lot more secure with my body and in tune with my body rather than before [when] I was like, ‘It’s cancer [or] it’s this [or] that.’”
Graziadei, 30, chimed in to “give Kelsey her flowers” for continuing to prioritize her health.
“She does a really, really good job [with] how she has handled her own health journey and trying to give knowledge to people, but also with grief,” the former Bachelor gushed. “She’s very open online, and I think that is one of things I admire about [her] a lot.”
Kelsey, who was in college when her mom died, has since been vocal about grieving her loss and honoring her mother’s memory.
“With the show, I got so many messages about people that related to my story,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2024, referring to her turn on Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor. “It is something that I wish that no one had to relate to. I also think people find comfort in hearing stories that are similar to theirs and seeing someone be able to find light in it. My mom was somebody who was very positive and always found light in any situation, even whenever she was going through all these rounds of chemo and radiation.”
