Katherine Lanasa Says Surviving Breast Cancer Taught Her What Her Patients on ‘the Pitt’ Are Really Feeling

31 Aug 2026, 01:47 · Thought Catalog

Phillip Faraone / Getty Images

Updated 3 hours ago, August 30, 2026

“When you have cancer, you become really in touch with how afraid you are when you’re in the hospital,” Katherine LaNasa says. She calls charge nurse Dana Evans “a love letter and a thank you” to the nurses who treated her, including one who wrapped her in a warm blanket during a scan, a small moment that got written into the show.

LaNasa was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer in February 2023, had surgery, and did about three weeks of daily radiation at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital that spring. Months of post-treatment ER visits followed, and she started filming “The Pitt” about a year later. She was a patient long before she played a nurse who treats them.

At NYA WEST in Hollywood on August 16, 2026, Katherine LaNasa attends HBO Max’s Emmy Nominee Celebration. Photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images.

She told CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister that fear is what she brings to Dana. “I think I was able to bring that into the role, that understanding that nurse Dana has, that all these people are really having their worst day,” she said.

At the JW Marriott LA Live in Los Angeles, actress Katherine LaNasa appears during the Television Academy’s Inaugural Televerse Festival on August 15, 2026. Photo by Chris Delmas / AFP via Getty Images.

LaNasa earned a second straight Emmy nomination for the role, a year after winning Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 77th Emmys.

At the Academy Museum’s David Geffen Theater in Los Angeles, Katherine LaNasa attends the Emmy FYC event for The Pitt Season 2 on June 9, 2026. Photo by Phillip Faraone / Getty Images.

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