today on getting answers. princess katherine of wales kate middleton makes a shocking announcement. she has cancer. what is her treatment and prognosis? oakland's mayor makes a big announcement as well. after a 401 days, she's finally filled the police chief opening, naming the former chief of lubbock, texas to take the helm. march is women's empowerment month, and the warriors director of social impact stops by to chat with us about how women make a difference in the education and wellness of children. you're watching,

getting answers. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. we'll get to those interviews in just a moment. but first, let's talk about this changing weather . rain is returning to the bay area today. here's a live look from our exploratorium camera in san francisco, showing how gray it looks across the bay right now. and it looks like it's going to be a wet weekend. abc7 news meteorologist lisa argen is tracking this level one storm. >> we have ended our nine day stretch of dry weather with a level one system today, working through the bay area, another system tomorrow bringing light to moderate rain. tomorrow we could see a chance of a thunderstorm and today still pretty mild before the cold air moves in windy weather accompanying the front as well. so throughout the rest of the day, that front pushes through the bay area, leading to a soggy evening. but then we get a break as we get into saturday. but by the afternoon, with a little bit of heating and that unstable atmosphere will see peeks of sun, we could see a chance of a

thunderstorm. those heavier downpours could be embedded with some hail and then getting into a final push of rain saturday night. that will take us through early sunday. you can see right there this pushes through the south bay and then we'll get into the breezy, drynoon. so we have three days of rain. level one systems. and here's a look at the gusty winds from the coast all across the bay area 20 to 30 mile an hour winds. and they really don't dial back until the cold front pushes through later on this evening. so rainfall totals through today are anywhere from a 10th to maybe a third of an inch. and then we'll add in saturday and sunday we could see close to an inch of rain. if you're in one of those areas with the heavy downpours, the rest of you may be a half inch. and it's snow in the sierra nevada. this cold system keeping the winter storm warning through sunday and looking at the heaviest snow through saturday morning in the sierra nevada with 1 to 2ft of snow. so as for today, we're looking at 60s to near 70. in the south bay. but that all ends with the chilly evening tonight

and cooler weather over the weekend. we do get a break on monday and tuesday. the accuweather seven day forecast shows the level one systems, but then more rain the middle to the end of next week. >> you can track the weather anytime with the abc seven bay area app. download it now and you'll be able to use live doppler seven to track the rain. just search for abc seven bay area. after months of speculation over her health and whereabouts, the princess of wales, commonly known as kate middleton, made a stunning revelation today on video. the 42 year old wife to the heir to the british throne, prince william, and mother to three children, says she has cancer. >> in january, i underwent major domino surgery in london and at the time it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. the surgery was successful. however, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. my medical team therefore advised that i should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and i'm now in the early stages

of that treatment. >> joining us live now is doctor catherine van loon, an oncologist who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers and head of ucsf's global cancer program. doctor van loon, thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much for having me. >> i want to say off the top that there's so much that we don't know neither the palace nor the princess herself specify what type of cancer, but any hints you picked up from what she said? >> you're exactly right. she she does not give us any information in her statement about the type of cancer she has, or the stage of her cancer. i think the timeline is important. we know that in mid-january, she was admitted for an abdominal surgery, which seemed as though it was planned and she had a prolonged hospitalization, she told us that going into the surgery, it was believed that the reason for the surgery was non-cancerous and that the surgery was successful. and then

we know that she starts chemotherapy sometime around late february so that we do know, she said her doctors were not expecting to find cancer, but they found it during tests after the operation. >> what tests might be done? typically after surgery, hurts a little bit. >> unusual. typically, when a cancer surgery is performed, it is planned and based upon a prior diagnosis. not that's not 100% of the time. any time a surgery is performed, the surgical specimen is taken to the pathology lab and dissected so it is possible that an unexpected cancer diagnosis was detected by the pathologist that reviewed her surgical specimen. >> i see, she said at the start, she is at the start of preventative chemotherapy. what does that mean, and what can we expect to see as she goes through treatments in terms of energy or a physical changes,

preventative chemo therapy is not a medical terme that we would typically use, and i expect what she's referring to is what we would call adjuvant chemotherapy, where after a major operation, chemotherapy is delivered typically 4 to 6 weeks after surgery, with the intention to reduce the risk for the cancer to recur or to metastasize in the future. >> and so i think she's using the word preventive in the sense that there is some concern that she could be at risk in the future for a recurrence of her cancer, and she's taking every step possible to prevent that from happening by receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. >> i see, so how long will this chemotherapy last? typically and how many rounds might she have to go through? >> i have no way of speculating about that without knowing her diagnosis. >> okay. look this does raise awareness even though we still

know very little. but everybody's talking about it, explain to folks at the very rudimentary level, what is cancer, what is happening inside your body, and why is this so hard for us? with all the medical advances, to really be able to defeat this? >> so cancer is a aberrant cell. it's a cell that mutates and the body doesn't identify that mutation. and it is allowed to take root and grow into a tumor by replicating copies of itself. there are a huge number of different cancer diagnoses. and i think the really important thing, as we're raising awareness of cancer around kate's diagnosis, is that cancer really does not not discriminate, and it affects people regardless of age. it really affects individuals regardless of socioeconomic status and race. and we all need to be aware of our individual and family risk.

>> absolutely. she's only 42, as you said, it doesn't discriminate by age. her father in law, king charles, also has cancer right now and he's 75 years old. can you talk about whether how it affects someone younger versus someone older differently? because i've heard that it can be sometimes tougher and more aggressive in a younger person. >> again, i think that really depends upon the specific cancer type in terms of differences of disease biology. what i can say is that young individuals, young adults are the one group in the united states where we are seeing a rising incidence of cancer. overall, we're seeing reductions in cancer death rates, and that is a reflection of the tremendous advances that have been made in cancer care, but for reasons that we don't understand at this point in time, we are seeing a rising incidence in young adults across a number of different cancer types, and which are the cancers that you're seeing the greatest jumps in. i'm a gastrointestinal

oncologist, and we are seeing a heightened risk of young onset colorectal cancer in particular in younger individuals. we've reduced the age for screening now from 50 to 45. but even younger than 45, we're still seeing a number of young onset cases, so certainly awareness around that particular diagnosis is really important. >> so in terms of early diagnosis, how can that be achieved in the sense that while we don't know for sure if this is colorectal or stomach or something else, there's a lot of conjecture. what are some of the signs and symptoms that you would say, hey, you should go see a doctor. don't just put it off. don't assume it's nothing serious. >> sure. so of course abnormal bleeding or iron deficiency anemia is an important sign. i'd say that, insidious pain or pain that is persistent and

unexplained is a reason to seek medical attention, bloating and discomfort and indigestion. symptoms are also really important, as well as changes in bowel habits. those are all reasons to seek medical care. >> and can you say how much of cancer is genetic versus environmental? because i think people like to think like human want humans want control. so if you say it's environmental, maybe people think, oh, if i just had a better diet or exercise more right. how do you break that down? >> only approximately 5 to 10% of cancers are genetic in origin , meaning that they're related to a germline mutation that is in an individual's or family's dna, the rest of cancers are generally attributed to bad luck, or environmental factors. smoking and avoiding smoke inhalation are the most important things that one can do to reduce your individual risk of developing a cancer later on.

>> hum. like princess kate today said she is. well, she certainly looked fairly well. she said she is getting stronger. are there things that someone can do if they are fighting this cancer battle to improve their odds, to improve their survivability and be as strong as they can be for it? >> there is a robust literature that exercise and good nutrition as well as optimism are really critical to, prognosis, in addition, access to good medical care and seeking care early are really prognostically important. >> all right, well, when you look at the overall situation and you consider our viewers, what advice would you give them? >> we all are keeping kate in our, thoughts at this moment in time. and i think as we watch somebody who has been living in the public eye and presumably has had access for her entire life to, good foods and good

health habits, i think the awareness around the fact that cancer can strike anyone at any time is really important, and it is a reminder to all of us, regardless of age and regardless of our backgrounds, to seek medical care. if we develop a concerning symptom. >> doctor catherine van loon, oncologist at ucsf. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> and as we have this important conversation about cancer this month is actually colon cancer awareness month coming up on abc seven news at four. we'll shed light on a new blood test for colon cancer screening that doctors say is showing promise for the hope of an earlier diagnosis. abc seven news reporter lyanne melendez will have that story at four. coming up on this program, oakland has finally named its next police chief. 401 days after the firing of loooooong armstrong, the man chosen to fill that position and the changes he could bring to the city. more on t

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former police chief leronne armstrong. she finally appoints a new chief, as we've been reporting three weeks ago. the police commission sent her four candidates as the finalists. and today she chose the former police chief of lubbock, texas, floyd mitchell, after an extensive process that included community, youth and city leadership. >> i have selected chief floyd mitchell. chief mitchell is a strong leader and smart crime fighter who delivers results. his joining us live now to talk about this long awaited appointment. >> abc seven news insider phil matier. phil, i don't know if

this broke some sort of record, but finally, hundred and one days, it's a record holder or a record breaker. >> over a year ago. yeah. the mayor shinto, who was just in her first month in office, uh- uh, fired police chief laurent armstrong over allegations that he had botched an internal investigation into one of his officers. armstrong contested that he went out, saying, i'm being framed here or being set up by the federal monitor who's overseeing the department. that led to the mayor firing him. first she put him on leave, he fired him. and that raised a lot of hackles within the community, especially in the african american community of oakland, who saw him as one of their own, somebody that was from oakland had risen up through the ranks. it's been a year over a year since then to try to get a new chief. and the process of selecting floyd mitchell has been as contentious as the exit of laurent armstrong. >> right. because first they sent her three names. she said

no to that. so they started over . so now that she has floyd mitchell, what can you tell us about him? what do we know? >> well, he is 56 years old. he is got about 30 plus years of experience on the streets of kansas city, temple, texas, and lubbock, most recently where he was chief. he parted ways with lubbock, texas, in with the city council there over questions about his handling of the 911 calls that were coming in and the call center there, questions about staffing, questions about whether people were being put on hold or being hung up on and that is something that's interesting because oakland has the same problem with that, right? >> they've people have complained about that. so is that unusual to select someone who had faced a situation or criticisms like that in their prior job? >> everything about this process is a bit unusual, not the least of which is that the first set of names given by the police commission included lauren armstrong, the very chief that she had fired. the second set of names included the former police chief of san leandro, who she

had already said no to during the first selection process. there hasn't been a lot of communication between the mayor's office and the police commission over this, and even then, mayor qingtao said that she was interviewing candidates on her own, but that they weren't getting through with the commission. so the surprise is here is that we've got someone i'm not sure that anybody is going to be running up and down the street saying hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. it's more like, let's wait and see where this goes. so what kind of changes might we expect under him? >> we did hear her saying that announcement message that oakland policing has lost its way, so i'm not sure what she considers finding its way back and what she has communicated to him. >> right. it's an open issue. and when they say lost its way, what does that mean? that means that they after covid there are some of their anti-gang programs fell down in use and such like that. yes. she referring to the movement earlier in oakland to defund the police and not in and not increase their ranks. kind of vague or right now about

increasing the ranks. but you know, she the guy coming in is just facing an understaffed, overworked and in a city that is just seeing incredibly high rising crime and is making national news for that. there's not a lot of in between here. the mission is going to be do something about that. >> so given those challenges and given the history in the city with police chiefs, the turnover, what is he, 12 and 20 years? wow so what does he need to do to not become, you know, the third? well there's two things here. >> first is what does he need to do. he needs to get try to do something about crime. i don't know if he's going to do that. i was speaking with some police sources today, and they said that over 90 officers are up for retirement in the next year or so. they have reached that age. they have 700 and about 11 officers right now. they're already understaffed, but they don't have the police academies enough to fill those ranks. so his first problem is enough cops on the ground. the second

problem he's has to face is a public relations problem, because he's not from oakland or california. he's from texas. and people are already saying, what was what? why is this the why reach outside the department. and the third challenge, he's going to have is, is the is that people's expectations? he's not going to be given a honeymoon. he says he's going to do a listening tour. i think the people in oakland are kind of tired of talking. they want to see action. >> yeah, indeed. so i understand there's a big press conference next week. i assume he'll be introduced and he'll talk to people. but what happens to laurent armstrong now? he's filed a lawsuit, right? >> he's he has filed a lawsuit saying whistleblower, that he was forced out for having raised questions about the federal monitor. i will tell you amongst all of this, let's not forget that the mayor is facing a organized and well funded recall effort on top of this. and if that recall effort makes it on the ballot, there are already people talking about putting laurent armstrong, the former chief, on, as a candidate, to

replace her boy. >> talk about a tough situation that mitchell is walking into. all right. we'll see. thanks, phil. we'll see you back here at 4:00. all right, all right. march is all about honoring women. it's women's history month and women's empowerment month. up next, we'lhear from one member of the warriors

work leading generation thrive, an arm of the golden state warriors that helps bay area nonprofits in schools through education and wellness programing. joining us live now to talk about that and the organization's efforts is ayana moody, senior director of social impact for the warriors. ayana, thanks for joining us. >> thanks so much for having me. it's very exciting and happy empowerment month to you. as well. >> oh my gosh. yes, indeed. you know, we know the warriors do a

lot in the community a whole lot. but what specifically is generating thrive that you lead. >> yes. so generation thrive is a partnership with kaiser permanente that was started in 2019, you know, especially when the team was moving to san francisco to say, hey, we want to double down our impact in oakland. and so our former front office business office was converted to a community space for educators and nonprofit and youth development specialists. and then we also more recently, in 2021, opened a similar style community space in san francisco at thrive city for san francisco educators. and so it's been a labor of love. we do free programing to date, we've served over 7500 educators. we do programing everything from tactical stuff around curriculum building and pedagogy to more fun stuff like health and wellness, doing free yoga classes, salsa, and healthy cooking demos. >> wow! can you give us a couple more examples of the type of programing or, you know, events that you've had lately? i don't know if you ever get the warriors players involved or celebrities or, you know, what are you trying to do?

>> yeah for sure. and so actually we had a for the holidays, had a healthy cooking demo with chef celebrity nikki shore. and gary payton. the second, which was super fun teaching educators how to make healthy recipes, for the holiday season upcoming this monday, actually, in celebration of women's empowerment month, we have a activation called thrive and defend teaching women self-defense, techniques. and so that's super fun, also, we worked very closely with our players during the holidays for our season of giving activations . jonathan kuminga went out to burton high school in san francisco, and it was really able to spread cheer, not only amongst the educators, but for students alike. and so just our ability to come out there and say, hey, the warriors are there for you. we are lockstep with everything and just evangelizing that concept not only for the warriors, but every sports organization in the bay area. >> okay, two things. one, i didn't know gp2 can cook, can. wow and two, how do people sign up for that self-defense workshop for women that's coming up? that's on march 25th. right

>> correct. so march 25th, if you're educator in the bay area, log on to warriors.com. slash generation thrive, and it's their go to programing and you see all of our list of upcoming, program for the spring and the summer. >> all right, i know you don't want the attention on you, but in the minute that i have left, let me just turn to you a little bit, because you are a female role model, for sure. and your story is empowering to others. how did you become involved in social impact? >> yeah, i think the, the i, the idea and the concept of giving back to others was something that my parents taught me. my mom and my aunt really taught me at a young age that being a person of others is not only something that you're supposed to do. we expect that of you. and so when i went on to college, i grew up in oakland. my whole life, but, you know, had a chance to go to ucla and really work in the education space. i knew that that was a space i want to stay in because i wanted other, you know, young black girls to know that you can be from oakland and you can go to ucla, you can go to columbia university, and you can work for your sports hometown team. and

the fact that i've been able to do this sometimes i pinch myself because it's been it's been a ride. >> it is amazing. and look, whether you go to ucla, columbia or anywhere else, what is what is your advice for young women? >> yeah, i always tell young women, give yourself so much grace. sometimes when we don't get stuff right the first time we beat ourselves up and we want to be, you know, at page 20, in our life's journey, and we feel like we're only at page two, know that life is a journey. it is. it is not a sprint at all. and be kind to yourself and give yourself so much grace because you are exactly. you are the moment that you are supposed to be at. and so i have to remind myself of that often as well. and we do beat ourselves up a little more than the guys tend to? >> it's anecdotal, but it feels true. oh, 100. >> so i'm telling everyone, give yourself grace. >> i love that. ayanna moody, senior director of social impact for the warriors. thank you so much. >> thank you. happy women's empowerment month. >> you too. and remember, abc7 news is streaming 24 seven. get the abc7 bay

wi >> david: tonight, the princess of wales reveals she has cancer. catherine in her own words, her voice breaking at times. the message she put out late today. also tonight, this horrific terror attack in russia. a moscow concert hall. isis now claiming responsibility. winter storm and flash flood alerts right now. first tonight, princess catherine's cancer diagnosis. her video message sharing she's being treated for cancer. she's now undergoing preventive chemotherapy. she calls the diagnosis a huge shock to both her and prince