At a Glance
- Kat Timpf, 37, was diagnosed with stage-zero breast cancer in her nipple 15 hours before giving birth.
- She chose a double mastectomy on March 19, 2025, and was declared cancer-free on April 3.
- The Fox News panelist now uses stand-up comedy and social media to support other young women facing the disease.
- Why it matters: Her story spotlights how early detection and aggressive treatment can save lives-even during pregnancy.
One summer night in 2025, comedian and Gutfeld! panelist Kat Timpf lay on her living-room couch, bleeding from both childbirth and a double-mastectomy incision, unable to pick up her crying newborn. That moment, she says, was the darkest of a year that began with a cancer diagnosis delivered just hours before delivery.
Diagnosis at 39 Weeks
Timpf was nine months pregnant and using a breast pump to induce labor when she spotted a lump on her nipple. Her sister urged her to call her doctor; an ultrasound and same-day biopsy revealed stage-zero cancer. “I was completely in shock,” Timpf told News Of Los Angeles. “I kind of blacked out because I wasn’t able to process what was happening.”
Fifteen hours later she delivered a healthy baby boy. Instead of settling into new-mom bliss, she faced a whirlwind of appointments and two surgical choices:
- Lumpectomy plus years of medication and radiation
- Double mastectomy
Choosing Surgery
“I never really considered the latter,” she said of the less-aggressive option. “I want to be in my son’s life for as long as possible.” On March 19 she underwent the mastectomy; by April 3 doctors declared her cancer-free.
Recovery brought fresh trauma. For three and a half weeks she slept upright on the couch, unable to lift her son. “I’d hear him crying and my instinct was to pick him up and comfort him. And I couldn’t do that,” she said. “It made me feel like a bad mom.”
Family, Humor and Healing
Support arrived in force. Her father, Daniel, drove nonstop from Michigan to New York. Husband Cameron Friscia, an investment banker and military veteran, emptied surgical drains and helped her shower. “He’s really shown me what love is,” she said.
Timpf also leaned on stand-up, turning pain into punchlines. “When I go on stage and make jokes about my breast cancer, it’s freeing,” she said. The approach mirrors her 2023 book You Can’t Joke About That, which argues humor defuses trauma.
Raising Awareness
Now touring nationally, Timpf devotes segments to young women’s breast-cancer risks. In December she visited a Maryland artist for post-mastectomy 3-D nipple tattoos, documenting the emotional reveal on social media. “I’ve felt very fulfilled with the other women I’ve spoken to – and I aim to do it on a larger scale,” she said.
Regular check-ups every six months will continue, yet Timpf says the ordeal forged resilience. “There’s a strength that I have now after going through all of that… I’m a changed person.”
