Today's Jill Martin Shares Breast Cancer Diagnosis

The Today family is rallying around Jill Martin. 

The lifestyle contributor recently shared she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. 

"I had always feared this day would come," she wrote in an essay published to Today.com on July 17, "but I never really thought it would."

As Martin explained in the piece, this looming fear stemmed from her own family's experience with the disease, including her grandmother dying from breast cancer. She added that her "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." 

The Shop Today with Jill Martin host cited her family's history as the reason she stayed up to date on her screenings. In fact, she noted in her essay that she had her last mammogram in January and that it came back as normal. However, Martin said her doctors advised her to do genetic testing just in case.

"That suggestion saved my life," she 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. And because of that test, I had a sonogram and an MRI and it turns out...I have breast cancer."

Martin—who noted her mother tested negative for BRCA gene mutations—wrote in her essay that she will undergo a double mastectomy and then begin reconstruction. 

"My treatment plan will also be informed by the results from my surgery," she continued. "My OB-GYN, Dr. Karen Brodman, 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."

During an interview on Today, Martin—who said she's undergoing her first surgery this week—expressed how she wanted to share her experience to encourage other people to talk to their doctors and learn more about genetic testing.  

"I don't know what's going to happen," the author explained, "but I know that while I'm healing and while I'm resting and while I prep for the second surgery, everyone could go out and get their genetic testing and their families can know."

And Martin knows she's entering her breast cancer battle with loads of support.

"I feel devastated and sad and scared, but I feel empowered and strong and my dad said, 'We got this,'" she said. "My husband's right there and I have the best doctors and my family and I got this. I got this. Just please see your doctors and see if genetic testing is appropriate." 

(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family).