Busy Philipps Found Out She Had Brain Cancer the Day After James Van Der Beek Died

The day after her formerDawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek died of colorectal cancer, Busy Philipps booked herself a full-body MRI. The scan revealed a brain tumor.

The self-titled “luckiest girl in the world” revealed her six-month battle with brain cancer in a new interview with PEOPLE. Philipps later learned from her neurosurgeon that she had grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare and slow-growing tumor with a 75-85% five-year survival rate. It helped that Philipps had caught it early, before she showed any symptoms.

“I didn’t know why I wanted to get this scan except for the fact that I just did,” she said. Philipps underwent successful surgery in early March.

Full-body MRIs are controversial, in part because they have high false-negative rates that turn out to be expensive for consumers. The Cleveland Clinic estimates that 90% of people find something, but 95% of those findings are “harmless cysts, nodules, or other changes that don’t affect overall health.” Harmless physically, sure, but not financially, and lots of people hit their insurance’s maximum out-of-pocket getting follow-up scans to rule out cancer.

Related Video

Even medical professionals don’t agree on whether they do more harm than good. Philipps notes that her own primary care doctor advised against a full-body MRI, while a doctor in her family encouraged her, saying, “Knowledge is power.”

Philipps now agrees. “There’s nothing to be afraid of in having information,” she said. “It’s only empowering.”