Former NBC anchor Jenna Wolfe undergoes mastectomy, hysterectomy
Former NBC anchor Jenna Wolfe revealed she underwent a mastectomy and hysterectomy after testing positive for the BRCA1 cancer gene.
The “Today” show alum, 49, shared a photo of herself in a hospital Tuesday once the surgery was complete to inform her fans she was on her way to recovery.
“Mastectomy behind me. All that’s left now is recovery and healing… The most important part. The hardest part,” she captioned the Instagram post.
“I FaceTimed with my kids tonight and the little said to me, ‘you always say we can do hard things, mama. Now we’re telling you the same thing. You got this. We love you.’ #brca1.”
Wolfe had the hysterectomy performed at the end of March — about a month after she learned she carried the gene.
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BCRA1 and BCRA2 are genes that produce proteins to help repair damaged DNA, according to the National Cancer Institute.
When someone inherits harmful variants of one of the two genes, they develop an increased risk of several types of cancers, including breast and ovarian.
“Something like this spins your head a few whirls. Am I going to be ok? Will I heal? Will I ever have the drive I once had?” the journalist — who shares daughters Harper, 9, and Quinn, 8, with wife Stephanie Gosk — wondered in an Instagram post at the time.
“I mean, a big chunk of my life is based around fitness and wellness,” she wrote, adding that she was “a little scared” about the health journey facing her.
“But I also know I have to let myself be scared sometimes to learn how to overcome it,” she added.
“It’s easy to ignore the hard things and opt for the comforts of safety. But safety never challenged anyone or scared anyone or pushed anyone down or pulled anyone up.”
Wolfe also credited her mother for staying by her side these past few months despite having only recently beaten stage 3 breast cancer.
“I’m a lucky girl,” she wrote over a video of her mom sleeping on a hospital couch beside her.
