‘Today’ Show’s Jill Martin Reveals She Was Diagnosed With Breast Cancer: ‘Devastated and Empowered’

Jill Martin revealed she has breast cancer.

The Today show contributor looked back at the day she was diagnosed in an emotional essay published Monday on Today.com.

"June 26 at 3:30 p.m. I remember saying to myself, 'My life is never going to be the same.' It was the day I was told I had breast cancer," she wrote. "I had always feared this day would come, but I never really thought it would."

Martin's diagnosis came after she took a genetics at-home saliva test. "Honestly, I had forgotten I even did it," she confessed.

She shared that her grandmother died of breast cancer and her mother, "who is healthy now," underwent a double mastectomy when she was 40 after a ductal carcinoma in situ, or stage 0 breast cancer, diagnosis.

Because her mother "tested negative for mutations in her BRCA genes" following her operation, Martin said she "assumed" she didn't need to get tested and "was vigilant on keeping up with my screenings."

"I was very wrong," she continued.

Fortunately, her physician suggested she get genetic testing due to her family's history with breast cancer.

"That suggestion saved my life," Martin wrote. "On June 20, I got a call from Dr. Susan Drossman telling me that I was BRCA2 positive. And as it turns out, my father is BRCA2 positive, too. And because of those positive tests, which I will be forever grateful we took, my father will get screened and stay vigilant about breast, prostate and pancreatic cancer, which he now knows he's at a higher risk for."

She revealed, "And because of that test, I had a sonogram and an MRI and it turns out...I have breast cancer."

Opening up about why she wanted to share the news, Martin said she refused to live with breast cancer privately and instead is "shouting from the rooftops telling everyone to check with their doctors to see if genetic testing is appropriate."

"It all happened so fast," she added of her diagnosis. "It is hard to believe just one month ago I was in Paris celebrating my mother's 75th birthday. But I have had some time to process, so now I'm in get-it-done robotic mode.

"Different people cope in different ways; for me, I am not hiding under the covers crying. Instead, I want to do everything I can to beat this and protect my family."

She noted that she is "heartbroken for so many reasons," mainly because she has to witness her parents follow her journey.

"I am devastated and empowered, all at the same time," she said.

Looking forward, she revealed she'd be having a double mastectomy this week and will later have reconstruction.

She wrote that her OB-GYN "has advised that, in a few months, I will also need my ovaries and fallopian tubes taken out as part of the preventative surgery process, as my chances of getting ovarian cancer are now 20% higher, according to my doctors. That is not a percentage I am willing to live with."  

She told her supporters, "I am talking about this not to scare you, but to raise awareness so that maybe you can be tested and identify a BRCA or other genetic mutation earlier."