Mom and Breast Cancer Patient Says She Felt ‘Violated’ During TSA Search

Denise Albert in New York City. (Photo by Mike Pont/WireImage)
Denise Albert in New York City. (Photo: Mike Pont/WireImage)

Denise Albert, co-host of The Moms on Sirius radio, was doing something working moms everywhere do: traveling for work.

But when it was time for Albert, who is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer, to go through security, she faced an experience anything but typical.

Rather, Albert called her encounter with TSA “horrific,” something that left her “humiliated” and “violated.” Which is why she wrote about it on the Moms’ blog and posted a video of the encounter:

Albert says that though she told TSA agents about both her medical port and the prescription cream she was carrying with her, “TSA agents aggressively attempted to do a body cavity search in public.”

Furthermore, Albert reports, after being asked to remove her shoes — despite Albert being at TSA precheck, where the removal of shoes is typically not required — she explained that she could not do it because an infection on her foot resulting from her chemotherapy and continuing immunotherapy medications prevented her from putting her bare feet on the floor and risking further infection.

According to the TSA website, those with TSA precheck do not have to remove their shoes and those with medical conditions do not have to remove their shoes.

And yet, agents insisted. Albert says she was then told she would be subjected to a head-to-toe pat-down with “pressure,” which concerned Albert because of the wig she wears, also as a result of her chemo.

Ultimately, Albert says she “ripped” her wig off for the TSA agents, because she didn’t want it to be damaged, despite never having appeared in public without her wig since losing her hair to cancer treatment. She was then left to wait, cold and barefoot, for 20 minutes while TSA agents decided how to proceed in screening Albert and her medical cream before an agent forced her hands down the back of Albert’s jeans. Agents also put their hands down Albert’s shirt.

On her blog, Albert writes, “The 2 TSA agents in my video went too far. I hope no one ever experiences this. I should also point out that according to the TSA website, what these agents did was improper procedure — they are not allowed to touch skin and should be gentle over clothing (contradiction to what you hear on video). I should NOT have been required to remove shoes because of my medical condition and they were supposed to ask if I have a tender area and didn’t and didn’t listen when I told them I did.”

She also claims that one TSA agent joked about “all of the eyelashes” Albert had in her carry-on bag. Albert writes that she explained to the agent that it was because she did not have real eyelashes as a result of her chemotherapy.

“I would have thought at that point, the humiliation would have ended,” Albert writes. And yet, as Albert’s video makes clear, this was clearly not the case.

Albert told People magazine, “There’s always people that say, ‘This is the TSA doing their job,’ and I completely understand, obviously, and appreciate all the security that goes into everyday travel, but this was out of line.”

She tells the magazine that as upsetting as her experience was, since sharing it, she’s “heard from thousands of people from around the country that have had circumstances — whether it be of their own medical condition or a medical condition of a child — and so many people have experienced this, so obviously it’s not just me. I’m really hopeful that this won’t happen to other people.”

Let’s keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.