“Today” show contributor Jill Martin is opening up about her journey with breast cancer, which started last month when she was diagnosed.
Martin said she learned of her diagnosis on June 26 after finding she has a BRCA gene mutation, she revealed on Monday in a personal essay published on Today.
“I am telling this 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,” she wrote.
Martin, who has a family history of breast cancer, took an at-home genetic test for the BRCA test and had forgotten about it by the time the results came in, she said. BRCA gene mutations can indicate a patient has a higher risk of developing cancers like breast cancer or ovarian cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“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.
Her mother tested negative for BRCA gene mutations. But BRCA mutations can be carried paternally, too. As a result, Martin’s doctors suggested she take the test, which she said “saved my life.” The test revealed she has a BRCA2 gene mutation, which her father also has.
“Because of that test, I had a sonogram and an MRI and it turns out…I have breast cancer,” she said.
Martin said she is “heartbroken for so many reasons” but mostly, she is struggling with watching her parents watch her go through this.
She said though she feels “devastated,” she feels “empowered” as she moves forward with a double mastectomy scheduled this week, adding that she plans to undergo reconstruction after.
Martin will also 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.”
