‘Today’ Show’s Jill Martin Gives Update on Cancer Battle After Mastectomy: ‘It’s Been a Roller-Coaster’

usmagazine.com:

Jill Martin is “doing OK” physically after undergoing a double mastectomy amid her cancer battle — and she wants to share her story with fans.“What an earth-shattering six weeks.

It feels like both yesterday and a lifetime since the last time I walked into Studio 1A,” Martin, 47, wrote in an essay for the Today show on Monday, August 7, following another appearance on the talk show. “In the past six weeks, I learned I am positive for a BRCA2 mutation, had stage 2 breast cancer, then had a double mastectomy and learned that my life will soon look very different.”The Today contributor previously announced on July 17 that her gene mutation — the BRCA gene is linked to a significantly higher possibility of developing breast or ovarian cancer — is what caused her breast cancer.

Martin is now three weeks into her recovery from a double mastectomy and while her cancer battle isn’t over, her health has taken a positive turn.“Emotionally is a different story; it’s been a roller-coaster,” Martin confessed on Monday, noting that one week after her surgery she had a meeting with her oncologist. “[It] started with the news that there is a good chance I am cancer-free, but I need further treatment to help ensure that.”Once Martin’s results from her biopsied tissue test came back, the doctors told her “they believed they had gotten it all.” Martin further explained that she had “an aggressive tumor removed” during the procedure and the surgeon removed 18 lymph nodes from her breast, one of which was cancerous.“There is always a small possibility that cancerous cells could have escaped, so the rest of the meeting was dedicated to planning out my long road ahead, and what the doctor suggests I do to prevent this insidious disease from