HEARTBREAKING: Jill Martin writes letter to herself before last 𝐵𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑆𝑇 reconstruction 𝑆𝑈𝑅𝐺𝐸𝑅𝑌

Facing down her seventh 𝑆𝑈𝑅𝐺𝐸𝑅𝑌 in a two-year fight with C cancer, Jill Martin decided to stop and write herself a letter.

The night before her 𝑆𝑈𝑅𝐺𝐸𝑅𝑌 — which she notes on Instagram “went well” and she is “home healing” — the TODAY contributor laid all her feelings bare.

“You’ve been through a lot — body, mind, spirit. And somehow… we’re still here. Still standing. Still fighting. Still finding joy,” she began the letter to herself, which she uploaded to Instagram after her 𝑆𝑈𝑅𝐺𝐸𝑅𝑌.

She acknowledged the pain she’s had to endure but took the space to thank her body for going through it all.

“Thank you to my body for showing up even when it was tired. For healing in ways I didn’t think were possible. Thank you to my mind for staying strong, sharp, and kind — even in the hardest moments. And thank you to whatever part of me kept believing there was light at the end of this road. Although I look different, feel different — I still feel magical.”

She ended her letter on a positive note, stating that she plans to live her life to fullest.

“To anyone in the middle of it — I see you,” she wrote. “To every survivor out there — I’m with you. This road is brutal, beautiful, and deeply personal. And no matter how many steps it takes, every one forward counts. Here’s to resilience. To softness and strength coexisting. And to whatever comes next — we’ve got this.”

In 2023, Jill was diagnosed with stage 2 𝐵𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑆𝑇 cancer after discovering she was at higher risk for the disease due to a BRCA2 mutation. As her mother and grandmother both had 𝐵𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑆𝑇 cancer, Jill immediately got a sonogram and an MRI in which doctors found her 𝐵𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑆𝑇 cancer.

Jill went on to have a double mastectomy with a 17-lymph node removal. She previously told TODAY.com that she then went through “one of the toughest chemo regimens” out there, which included the red devil — a chemotherapy drug known for its bright red color that includes doxorubicin.

After her chemotherapy came 16 weekdays of radiation in a row, followed by a series of preventative measures, including a 𝑆𝑈𝑅𝐺𝐸𝑅𝑌 to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes. She then moved onto daily oral chemotherapy pills.

Jill has been extremely open about her cancer journey, hoping that she can help others become aware of the dangers 𝐵𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑆𝑇 cancer poses.

“I am telling this story now because I couldn’t go through months of operations, and start to recover both physically and mentally, without shouting from the rooftops telling everyone to check with their doctors to see if genetic testing is appropriate,” she wrote in a personal essay for TODAY.com.

Now, she’s sharing the latest development: her letter.

Read her full letter to herself here:

You’ve been through a lot — body, mind, spirit. And somehow… we’re still here. Still standing. Still fighting. Still finding joy.

Today is what we hope will be the final 𝑆𝑈𝑅𝐺𝐸𝑅𝑌 -reconstruction. (Yeah, I’ve said that before — and I know some of you get it.) But today, after seven surgeries, Chemotherapy, radiation and my “safety net chemo pills”… I just want to say thank you.

Thank you to my body for showing up even when it was tired. For healing in ways I didn’t think were possible.

Thank you to my mind for staying strong, sharp, and kind — even in the hardest moments.

And thank you to whatever part of me kept believing there was light at the end of this road.

Although I look different, feel different — I still feel magical.

There is so much life left to live, and I plan to live it fully.

To anyone in the middle of it — I see you.

To every survivor out there — I’m with you.

This road is brutal, beautiful, and deeply personal. And no matter how many steps it takes, every one forward counts.

Here’s to resilience. To softness and strength coexisting.

And to whatever comes next — we’ve got this.

XO jill