In advance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, HGTV fan favorite Hilary Farr offered an emotional message via social media on September 29, 2025, urging her fans to get screened.
The famed designer, who announced her departure from “Love It or List It” in December 2023 after starring in 258 episodes of the show, began her latest video on Instagram by saying, “Hi, I’m Hilary Farr and I am a breast cancer survivor.”
Though Farr, 74, first opened up about her cancer battle in 2021, revealing details of her journey to People, many of the fans who flooded her post with comments said they did not know about her diagnosis or lingering side effects. Others thanked her for speaking out and for being a model of resilience and hope.
Hilary Farr Says It’s Time to ‘Do a Little Bit More’ Than Wearing Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
In her video, Farr said she had partnered with the American Cancer Society (ACS) to help spread awareness as a breast cancer survivor. The ACS is commemorating the 40th anniversary of Breast Cancer Awareness Month by spending the first week of October specifically educating women about the importance of early screening and routine mammograms, per press materials.
“You’re going to see an awful lot of people in pink shirts and with pink pins showing their awareness and their support,” Farr told her followers. “And I think it is absolutely wonderful. But I think it’s time to do a little bit more, if we can.”
Urging everyone to take part in spreading the word, Farr said, “I think it’s going to be different for everyone, but I would say it’s time to share our stories. Let’s get this out in the open and support our communities and, most importantly, get screened.”
“Now here’s a statistic that I really think you should know,” Farr said. “One in eight women in the U.S. are going to be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. That means that all of us are going to know someone we love and we care deeply about who is going to have to fight this disease.”
“And fight they will,” Farr continued, “and the research that is being done is going to help us every inch of the way. But for now, take a deep breath. Sit with your friends and just talk about it and think of what you can do to raise awareness and action this October.”
According to ACS’s Cancer Facts & Figures 2025 report, in addition to one in eight women in the U.S. diagnosed with 1 in 8 women with invasive breast cancer during their lifetime, one in 43 will die from the disease.
Breast Cancer Survivor Hilary Farr Has Undergone 3 Surgeries & Radiation
Screening was a key factor in Farr’s battle with breast cancer, she told People in 2021. She informed the outlet that in 2012, doctors found a suspicious lump in one of her breasts during a routine mammogram. Farr immediately had surgery to remove the lump, called a lumpectomy, and tests showed the tumor was precancerous, not malignant.
“I felt so much relief,” she recalled to People. “I moved on.”
But in late 2014, while filming “Love It or List It” in Raleigh, North Carolina, another mammogram revealed a new tumor that had spread into surrounding breast tissue, Farr told People. She was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and underwent a second lumpectomy surgery.
Farr told the outlet that her medical oncologist said they got all of the cancer, but erroneously said she didn’t need any further treatment. However, two months later, Farr learned she needed radiation to destroy any remaining cancer cells and reduce the risk of recurrence. She told People she was “terrified” they did not catch it all in time.
“I felt absolute fury that someone could be so flippantly wrong,” she said, noting that she filed a complaint and the oncologist retired the following year. “I could have been dead.”
Farr underwent 28 rounds of radiation in March 2015, but another lump was found seven months later. The designer had a third lumpectomy, and like the first, that tumor was deemed to be precancerous.
Hilary Farr Says She Still Deals With Side Effects of Cancer Treatment
HGTV / DISCOVERY+Farr has been in remission since her third lumpectomy, but revealed to one of the fans who commented on her September 29 post that she still deals with the side effects of treatment.
The fan, who said she was a fellow breast cancer, wrote, “I developed lymphedema in my right arm nearly 2 years after a lumpectomy and node removal. Do you have it too? Hope not.”
Farr replied, “Yes- Lymphodema . Also side effects from radiation … But We’re Still Here!”
Some cancer survivors suffer from lymphedema, caused by the buildup of lymph fluid between the skin and muscle, per the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The body’s lymph system helps to fight off infection and disease, but cancer or cancer treatment can disrupt the flow and cause extremities to swell dramatically. For breast cancer patients, per the NCI, lymphedema tends to develop in the hands, arms or chest due to lymph nodes being removed or damaged during treatment.
Many of Farr’s followers shared their breast cancer stories in the comment section of her post, and others praised her for speaking up about the importance of early detection, including one who wrote, “What a wonderful way to celebrate and recognize and help those going through what you’ve experienced first hand👏 and you look beautiful.”
Since Farr left “Love It or List It,” a new version launched in 2025 featuring her former co-star, David Vistentin, paired with longtime HGTV personality Paige Turner. The new duo has begun filming their second season together in Toronto.
