The Pittstar Katherine LaNasa is opening up about her cancer journey.
While speaking to Extra TV for an August interview, LaNasa, who plays Nurse Dana Evans in the HBO Max medical drama, noted that she received the diagnosis of Stage I breast cancer in 2023. According to LaNasa, she had “just finished [her cancer] treatment about a year before” she was cast as Dana. She said she experienced “some scary complications” and “some weird symptoms” following her cancer treatments, so she “was in and out of hospital, particularly the ER for about six months before [she] got the job”
In addition, she said she wanted to honor a real-life nurse who showed her kindness while playing Dana. The actress explained that said nurse gave her much-needed encouragement while she was “having [her] worst day” amid her cancer battle. LaNasa said the nurse assured her that she would eventually feel better.
“I believed her and it changed me,” said LaNasa to the publication.
In an essay penned for a June 2025 issue of Women’s Health, LaNasa shared her February 2023 breast cancer diagnosis “wasn’t [her] first cancer scare.”
“In my 30s, while filming the television series Three Sisters, I had a mammogram that came back ‘inconclusive,'” wrote the 58-year-old. “I didn’t understand what that meant, so a friend suggested I make an appointment with Dr. Armando Giuliano, one of the top breast cancer surgeons in L.A. I did—and he ordered a biopsy.”
The actress said while “the results were benign,” she “was told that [she has] dense breasts,” which indicated that she was at a higher risk of having breast cancer. She said with that knowledge, she was “diligent about getting regular mammograms ever since, except for a few years during [her] late 40s when [she] was pregnant and breastfeeding.”
She also suggested she didn’t expect her 2023 cancer diagnosis, as she “was feeling better than ever.” However, “after two mammograms and two biopsies, the results, this time, came back cancerous.”
“I began treatment—surgery and about three weeks of daily radiation—in March 2023,” shared the Daredevil: Born Again actress.
In addition, LaNasa said she appreciated the kind gestures made by members of the nursing staff, like being given “a warm blanket” during a scan, while she was receiving treatment.
“When they wrapped me in that cozy material, I felt like somebody cared about me and I could handle anything. I later told The Pitt writers about that, and in one of the scenes, I slip in and put a warm blanket around someone’s feet who is really struggling. That was based on my own experience,” continued LaNasa in her essay.
She then shared that her “goal was for Dana to be a love letter and a thank you to all the people who treated [her] so kindly, so lovingly, and so thoughtfully when [she] had cancer.”
