KIDWCKED
04-07-2010, 06:49 PM
c/p from espn by the a/p
Hall of Fame tennis player Martina Navratilova said Wednesday she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and her prognosis is excellent.
[+] Enlarge AP Photo/Chris CarlsonTennis legend Martina Navratilova, who has what is considered as the earliest form of breast cancer, will undergo radiation therapy in May.
Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," Navratilova said she was diagnosed in February with an aggressive form of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), considered the earliest form of breast cancer. Reflecting on the day she learned she had cancer, Navratilova referred to it as her "personal 9/11."
"I was devastated," she said on GMA.
Navratilova, 53, told interviewer Robin Roberts, herself a breast cancer survivor, that she underwent a lumpectomy, and that doctors concluded the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes. There is a "very small chance" of the cancer recurring, she said.
"It is just in that one breast," Navratilova told GMA. "I'm OK and I'll make a full recovery."
According to The Associated Press, a surgeon at UC San Francisco said DCIS strikes almost 70,000 American women a year and that "there's only a 1 percent chance of anyone with this diagnosis would die of breast cancer."
A routine mammogram in January found a lump, Navratilova said, and a biopsy the following month determined it was cancerous.
Navratilova said she will undergo six weeks of radiation beginning in May, adding that she is fine physically but struggles emotionally at times, particularly when discussing her diagnosis.
"I'm this healthy person, I've been healthy all my life, and all of a sudden I have cancer. Are you kidding me?" she said.
Navratilova left tennis in 1994 after winning 167 singles titles. In 2006, a month shy of her 50th birthday, she closed her competitive career by winning the mixed doubles championship at the U.S. Open for her 59th Grand Slam title.
Navratilova won six straight Wimbledon singles titles from 1982 to 1987.
Hall of Fame tennis player Martina Navratilova said Wednesday she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and her prognosis is excellent.
[+] Enlarge AP Photo/Chris CarlsonTennis legend Martina Navratilova, who has what is considered as the earliest form of breast cancer, will undergo radiation therapy in May.
Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," Navratilova said she was diagnosed in February with an aggressive form of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), considered the earliest form of breast cancer. Reflecting on the day she learned she had cancer, Navratilova referred to it as her "personal 9/11."
"I was devastated," she said on GMA.
Navratilova, 53, told interviewer Robin Roberts, herself a breast cancer survivor, that she underwent a lumpectomy, and that doctors concluded the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes. There is a "very small chance" of the cancer recurring, she said.
"It is just in that one breast," Navratilova told GMA. "I'm OK and I'll make a full recovery."
According to The Associated Press, a surgeon at UC San Francisco said DCIS strikes almost 70,000 American women a year and that "there's only a 1 percent chance of anyone with this diagnosis would die of breast cancer."
A routine mammogram in January found a lump, Navratilova said, and a biopsy the following month determined it was cancerous.
Navratilova said she will undergo six weeks of radiation beginning in May, adding that she is fine physically but struggles emotionally at times, particularly when discussing her diagnosis.
"I'm this healthy person, I've been healthy all my life, and all of a sudden I have cancer. Are you kidding me?" she said.
Navratilova left tennis in 1994 after winning 167 singles titles. In 2006, a month shy of her 50th birthday, she closed her competitive career by winning the mixed doubles championship at the U.S. Open for her 59th Grand Slam title.
Navratilova won six straight Wimbledon singles titles from 1982 to 1987.