Jill Martin must undergo surgery due to complications from cancer treatment
Jill Martin will undergo surgery after complications from her breast cancer treatment.
“Just when you think the fight is over, life reminds you that healing isn’t always linear,” Martin, 49, shared during the Friday, Jan. 9 episode Today.
Martin revealed that her skin was damaged by radiation therapy and she is undergoing surgery to repair it. This will be her eighth procedure since her cancer diagnosis in 2023. (Martin previously underwent reconstructive surgery and preventive surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes.)
“It’s preventative and proactive — an emergency only in the sense that if we don’t act now, it could turn into something much bigger,” the Today contributor told the outlet, reiterating that “the cancer is not back.”
According to Martin, she will be in the hospital for at least three nights. She will then recover at home for a few weeks.
“I feel exhausted and grateful at the same time,” she said. “Sometimes it feels like it will never really end. And yet I am grateful. Thankful for the early action, for the great doctors and for the opportunity to keep moving forward.”
In July 2023, Martin shared that she had been diagnosed with stage II breast cancer. The journalist also announced that she would undergo a double mastectomy after learning that she has the BRCA 2 gene mutation, which puts its carriers at increased risk of breast and other cancers.
“I tell this story now because I couldn’t endure months of surgeries and recover both physically and mentally without shouting from the rooftops and telling everyone to check with their doctors about whether genetic testing is appropriate,” she wrote in an essay for the Today website. “By the time I recover from my first surgery, I hope many of you will know the results and be able to make proactive decisions with your doctors, families and loved ones.”
Four months after revealing her diagnosis, Martin completed her chemotherapy treatment. She documented the moment by sharing a video on social media of herself ringing the hospital doorbell.
In October 2024, Martin opened up about how her battle with cancer took a mental toll on her.
“I have two emotions that don’t normally go together at the same time,” Martin said exclusively We weekly. “I’m so grateful to be cancer-free, but on the other hand, I just came out of a year of fog and people look at me and think I look like myself. To me, I look completely different and my body is completely different.”
Martin continued, “I’ve spent the last year just trying to save my life. And now I’m dealing with the mental trauma of it all. And I think a lot of survivors will tell you that it’s never over. It’s not like, ‘When are you going to be done?’ or ‘Is it over?’ It’s never over. This is a fight I will fight all my life. I think about chemotherapy every day.”
Amid her battle with cancer, Martin also separated from her husband Eric Brookswho filed for divorce in July 2024.
“I had a beautiful love affair, but like some stories, unfortunately, they have a beginning, middle and end,” she said of her divorce on an October 2024 episode of the “Making Space with Hoda Kotb” podcast. “And this time we both ended it. So if everything was great, we would get married. So obviously there were problems.”
