breast cancer

Samantha McClymont, a founding member of Australian country act the McClymonts, is battling a rare type of breast cancer.
The 38-year-old artist shared the troubling news on her social media page.

“Last October, I found a lump,” she writes. “After initially being misdiagnosed,” she continues, her “life completely turned upside” down four months later when she was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer. According to Cancer Research U.K., about 15% of breast cancers are of this type.

“It has become my full-time job having treatment,” she continues. “It has begun with chemotherapy/ immunotherapy, which in total will be 5 months, followed by surgery and then radiation.”

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Friends and family “have been incredibly supportive as Ben, the boys, and I navigate our new routine,” she writes in a post that’s accompanied with a picture of the singer getting hugs from her sons.

McClymont has wiped clean her work slate for the rest of the year, as she recovers from her illness. “I know I will come out the other side of this,” adds McClymont, “but it’s one step at a time.”

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The sibling trio – Sam, Brooke, and Mollie – has released six studio LPs, the most recent, Mayhem To Madness (Island Records Australia / Universal Music Australia), dropping in 2020 and opening at No. 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Mayhem To Madness was shortlisted for country album of the year at the ARIA Awards.

“Their harmonies are tight, and their songwriting is nothing short of first rate,” wrote Billboard’s late country writer Chuck Dauphin for a 615 Spotlight on the group, published in 2011. “For every Keith Urban that has been able to transcend nationalities with their sound in the genre, there are at least two that have not been able to. The McClymonts are making that jump – and making it successfully.”

Over time, the group has collected 13 Golden Guitar Awards, two ARIA Awards and an APRA Award.