Busy
Philipps
is
opening
up
about
“the
weirdest
six
months”
of
her
life.

The
“Girls5eva”
star


told
People

in
an
interview
published
Wednesday
that
in
February
—
just
days
after
her
“Dawson’s
Creek”
co-star
and
friend

James
Van
Der
Beek
died

of
colon
cancer

—
she
found
out
that
she
had
a
Grade
2
oligodendroglioma,
a
rare,
slow-growing
tumor
in
the
frontal
lobe
of
her
brain.

Philipps
soon
underwent
two
surgeries
—
one
to
have
the
tumor
removed
and
another
when
her
incision
became
infected.

“I’m
grateful
that
I’m
alive,”
Philipps
told
People,
noting
that
she
didn’t
have
any
obvious
symptoms.

The
tumor
was
detected
by
a
Prenuvo
scan,
a
full-body
MRI
that
checks
for
more
than
500
conditions
and
costs
around
$2,500.


The
New
York
Times

reports
that
although
it
confirmed
that
Philipps
did
not
receive
the
scan
for
free,
“the
company
has


provided
influencers

with
free
scans
and
in
some
cases
has
given
them
discount
codes
to
share
with
their
followers.”

The
Times
adds
that
“Kim
Kardashian,
the
television
host
Maria
Menounos
and
the
‘Selling
Sunset’
star
Mary
Bonnet
are
among
the
celebrities
who
have
extolled
the
Prenuvo
scans.”

Philipps
told
People
that
she
almost
bailed
on
getting
the
scan
altogether.

The
“Freaks
and
Geeks”
alum
said
that
the
day
Van
Der
Beek
died,
she
went
to
dinner
with
a
few
friends
to
process
the
loss.
During
the
dinner,
she
got
a
bit
of
good
news
—
her
agent
called
to
let
her
know
that
Robert
and
Michelle
King,
creators
of
“The
Good
Wife”
and
“The
Good
Fight,”
were
interested
in
meeting
with
her
for
their
new
project,
“Cupertino.”

“It
just
felt
like
it
was
a
gift
from
James,”
Philipps


joked
in
a
clip
of
her
interview

she
posted
on
her
Instagram
account.
She
told
her
agent
she
wanted
to
meet
with
the
Kings
that
week.

The
next
day,
she
realized
she’d
forgotten
about
her
scan
and
was
thinking
of
backing
out
until
her
ex-husband
and
close
friend,
filmmaker
Marc
Silverstein,
called
to
see
how
she
was
handling
the
loss
of
Van
Der
Beek.

“And
I
was
like,
’I’m
OK
…
I
caught
this
big
audition
for
tomorrow,
and
I
scheduled
this
scan.
Should
I
just
cancel
it?”
Philipps
recalled.
“He’s
like,
‘Maybe
it’s
the
best
thing
you
could
do
for
your
friend
this
morning.
Go
get
that
scan.’”

Philipps
got
the
news
about
a
lesion
in
her
brain
shortly
after
auditioning
for
“Cupertino”
and
was
told
to
get
a
follow-up
MRI
to
investigate
further.

“‘This
is
a
real
tumor,
and
it’s
inside
your
brain.
And
Busy,
it’s
got
to
come
out,’”
Philipps
recalled
the
doctor
telling
her
on
a
phone
call
after
the
follow-up
MRI.
“I
was
hyperventilating
and
trying
to
breathe.”

On
March
2,
Philipps
underwent
a
five-hour
surgery
to
remove
the
tumor
in
her
brain.
Her
doctor
told
People
that
the
tumor
is
“considered
malignant,
but
it
has
the
best
prognosis
of
all
of
the
malignant
gliomas.”

“It’s
sort
of
defined
as
a
cancerous
tumor
based
on
the
ability
of
the
tumor
to
regrow
over
time,
rather
than
it
looking
very
malignant
under
the
microscope,”
the
doctor
explained.

Philipps
said
her
recovery
was
quick,
but
when
she
visited
her
dermatologist
for
Botox
in
April,
the
doctor
noticed
that
her
surgical
incision
looked
a
little
off.
Philipps
had
developed
a
staph
infection
at
the
incision
site
and
needed
a
second
surgery
to
remove
infected
tissue.

“The
second
surgery
really
threw
me,”
Philipps
said.
“I
just
felt
like
I
was
back
to
square
one,
and
I
was
really,
really
upset.”

According
to
several
videos
on
Philipps’
Instagram
page,
she
dealt
with
this
nightmare
situation
with
a
lot
of
humor.

In


a
carousel
post,
Philipps
said
she
jokingly
asked
her
surgeons
if
they
could
give
her
a
brow
lift
when
they
cut
the
mass
out
of
her
brain.

Their
answer?:
No.

In
another
video
in
the
same
carousel
post,
Philipps
exhibited
both
fear
and
gratitude
before
her
surgery.

“I
don’t
have
a
choice,
this
is
happening
tomorrow,”
Philipps
says
in
the
video
with
a
smirk.
“And
I
feel
like
…”

After
a
long
pause,
she
finally
spoke.

“Like
it’s
a
blessing,
and
I’m
so
lucky,”
she
said
while
choking
back
tears.

“I’m
so
lucky
to
have
the
doctors
I
have,”
she
added.
“To
have
the
access
to
the
care
that
I
have.”

Read
more
at

People.