Fox29′s Sue Serio diagnosed with breast cancer

Longtime Fox29 weather anchor Sue Serio will be off-air for about a month following a stage-one breast cancer diagnosis, she revealed alongside Good Day Philadelphia colleagues Mike Jerrick and Alex Holley during Friday morning’s broadcast.

Serio — who has worked at the station since 1997 — said she learned about the 5-millimeter lump from a routine mammogram earlier this month.

“I go every year,” she said on air. Starting at age 40, women are encouraged to get screening mammograms every other year to increase their chances of early detection. Serio, 66, is well above that age recommendation, she joked.

“I had my diagnosis, followed by these words: it’s very, very small and you’re going to be fine,” Serio wrote in a message posted to Fox29′s website. “My prognosis is excellent.”

This is the second time a mammogram is “probably going to save me,” Serio said in the statement.

In 2012, a screening mammogram revealed another potentially malignant spot, she said. Any cancer was successfully removed during a follow-up biopsy. Serio recalled having felt a mix of relief and guilt.

“I was mostly astounded and amazed with what I got away with,” Serio told The Inquirer Friday. “I felt guilty walking out the office seeing the women with the scarves on their heads.”

Now, things are “more complicated,” Serio said, because of that first brush with cancer. She will undergo surgery Tuesday, followed by radiation therapy.

Serio was joined on air by her surgeon, Julia Tchou, director of breast surgery research at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center. Tchou said that Serio’s lump had the potential to metastasize had she delayed getting her mammogram.

Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death among women. It accounts for a third of all new female cancer diagnoses annually, according to data from the American Cancer Society. These statistics are part of what drove Serio to share her story before surgery, telling The Inquirer she felt gratified when a friend texted her after the Good Day Philadelphia segment to say she had scheduled a mammogram.

The other push to share her story came from fellow Good Day Philadelphia anchor Mike Jerrick, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year. He returned to the show in July after recovering from surgery.

“Mike and I both agreed we’d love not to talk about it at all and go through it privately, but that’s not the life we live,” Serio said. “We took it as an opportunity to help people.”

Serio plans to spend her time in recovery bonding with her husband — former sportscaster Bill Vargas — and knitting.

“I truly don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me because I’ve been privileged beyond measure with love and support,” Serio said.