‘Today’s Jill Martin Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Today show lifestyle contributor Jill Martin revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will undergo a mastectomy.
An emotional Martin shared the news this morning on Today.
“This feels like an out-of-body experience,” she said as she choked back tears on Today. “It feels like someone else telling this story. … It’s happened really fast.”
The 47-year-old Martin, who wrote a personal essay about her experience on Today.com, said she had been diagnosed on June 26 after discovering she has a BRCA2 gene mutation, which she inherited from her father, who also tested positive for the mutation.
“I always associated this with something women get and so many people I’ve spoken to have said, ‘I didn’t know this was something men should be tested for,’” Martin said. “Please see your doctors and see if genetic testing is appropriate.”
She said she will undergo a double mastectomy this week, followed by reconstruction surgery and a more in-depth treatment plan, but she told co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb that she feels she’s in good hands with her doctors.
“My grandmother passed away from breast cancer. And my beautiful mother — who is healthy now — had a double mastectomy in her late 40s after being diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, often referred to as stage 0 breast cancer,” Martin wrote.
Martin said she feels “devastated and sad and scared,” but also “empowered, strong,” adding “I have the best doctors and my family, and I’ve got this.”
She also said she will need to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed given the higher risk of ovarian cancer — her chances of developing ovarian cancer are 20% higher, she said. “That is not a percentage I am willing to live with.”
Martin wrote she was telling her story now “because I couldn’t go through months of operations, and start to recover both physically and mentally, without shouting from the rooftops telling everyone to check with their doctors to see if genetic testing is appropriate.”
Watch Martin’s Today interview with Guthrie and Hotb above.
Source: Deadline
