“Today” show contributor Jill Martin’s double mastectomy went “successfully” — but she learned she’ll likely need chemotherapy to further treat her stage 2 breast cancer.
Martin explained in a “Today” essay published Monday morning that her oncologist told her there is a “good chance” she is cancer-free, but she will need further treatment to “help ensure that.”
“I will also need to take anti-hormonal drugs for 5 years. And I will most likely need chemotherapy because of the aggressiveness of the tumor,” she wrote.
“That is the part that hit me the hardest — the idea of chemo.”
The “Steals and Deals” segment host, 47, said she was advised to purchase a wig “just in case,” which left her in a “state of shock.”
“There was not a lot of time to process upfront, and a lot of that is going on now after the fact. Cancer has knocked me down. It has,” she confessed.
“I used to jump out of bed every day to begin work, but now every day is a choice. Do I feel like staying under the covers and crying? Yes. Every day. But I did that when I first started recovery … and little by little, like today, I am choosing to get up.
“I am choosing to fight.”
Martin will also have to go for a full hysterectomy to decrease her chances of developing ovarian cancer.
She announced in mid-July that she was diagnosed with breast cancer a week after testing positive for the BRCA gene, which dramatically increases a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer.
“Of course I’m devastated. You hear the C-word and you think the worst,” she shared at the time. “But after you hear the word and you absorb it, you then have to be your own best friend.”
The sportscaster said she is getting through her medical scare with the support of her husband, Erik Brooks, who has been by her side the entire time.
“Honestly, I am doing OK. I have a loving husband, amazing family and friends and an incredible support system,” she wrote.
