The Home Edit’s Clea Shearer has undergone surgery for an eighth time after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022.
Taking to social media to share her health update, Shearer, 42, revealed she underwent an operation on Tuesday, January 28, after her doctor discovered a wound at an incision site that opened to a breast implant over the weekend.
“I didn’t expect to need surgery today,” the lifestyle company’s cofounder wrote via Instagram in the hours leading up to her surgery. “He took one look at it and said, “what are you doing on Monday?” My heart sank because I knew what was coming next.”
Shearer, who also appeared in the Netflix series Get Organized With The Home Edit, learned in February 2022 that she was suffering from breast cancer, sharing the diagnosis publicly via Instagram in April that year. Her latest surgery comes after announcing in November 2022 that she was “cancer free.”
Shearer’s emotional new post detailed how she had believed that her seventh related procedure, which occurred in November 2024, was supposed to be her last. “I celebrated what I *thought* was my final surgery (at least for a long while). Lucky number 7 was going to be it!” she wrote. “But two months later, I’m at the hospital about to go in for my 8th.”
The unexpected discovery may lead to further subsequent surgery, as Shearer explained in the post. “The scary part about today’s surgery is that there’s a good chance it leads to my 9th. I’ve been told to emotionally prepare myself that swapping my implant out might not work, in which case I’ll need a larger reconstruction that uses tissue from my latissimus dorsi muscle in my back,” Shearer wrote.
Shearer shared a post-operation update with her concerned fans via her Instagram Stories, posting a selfie that showed her holding one thumb up while lying in a hospital bed. “In recovery now and just ate 264 saltine crackers and peanut butter,” Shearer captioned the Story. “The surgery was a success, so now I just have to hope the next few weeks go well so I can avoid another one.”
The entrepreneur’s original breast cancer diagnosis, which was presented as stage 1 mammary carcinoma, came after she found a lump in her breast in February 2022. Shearer’s social media announcement at the time detailed how she eventually learned she had two tumors that measured one centimeter each.
“[They] are aggressive and fast moving — but I caught it early,” Shearer wrote, noting that, “Had I not taken this upon myself, I would be in a completely different situation right now.”
She added in the 2022 post that publicly sharing her diagnosis made “cancer feel purposeful,” and that if her experience was able to “convince any of you to self-examine on a regular basis, self-advocate always and to prioritize your health over your busy schedules — then this will have meant something.”
