Today lifestyle contributor Jill Martin Brooks is celebrating the small moments amid her breast cancer journey.
Brooks, 47, got emotional after presenting her “She Made It” interview with Never Fully Dressed founder Lucy Aylen on the Tuesday, March 19, episode of Today. “That was your first ‘She Made It’ since you wrapped up your treatment,” cohost Craig Melvin noted after the segment.
Brooks replied, “It was. I’m back, baby.”
Dylan Dreyer noted that she and her cohosts were “so happy you’re here,” while Al Roker added that Brooks was “never gone, not in our hearts.” Brooks then burst into tears after the trio celebrated her recovery with a round of applause.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry. We gotcha. We love you,” Dreyer, 42, said. Brooks told her colleagues that she was shedding “happy tears” before Melvin, 44, got out of his seat to give her a sweet hug.
Brooks revealed in July 2023 that she had been diagnosed with stage II breast cancer one month prior. “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 an essay for Today.com while recalling her family’s history with breast cancer.
She continued: “By the time I recover from my first surgery, I hope that many of you will know your results and can make proactive decisions with your doctors, families and loved ones.”
Brooks returned to Today in August 2023 after undergoing a double mastectomy, during which she said doctors removed a tumor and over a dozen lymph nodes. “It could not have gone better,” her surgeon, Dr. Elisa Port, told host Savannah Guthrie. “Jill went in with the best attitude I’ve ever seen in terms of, ‘We’re going to take this,’ and it’s really a collaborative thing as a surgeon, and it’s such an honor to take care of her.”
During her chemotherapy treatment, Brooks also used a cold cap to help reduce her hair loss. “It’s like 12 hours, negative 32 degrees Fahrenheit. I kept a lot of it. The underneath is mostly gone, but I have this, which I think is holding on,” the TV personality shared via a November 2023 Instagram video. “[You] can’t color your hair for six months after. You can’t wash it in the shower. You have to, you know, be very careful about it.”
That same month, Brooks celebrated Thanksgiving by announcing she had completed chemotherapy. “I ring this bell with all my might. Honoring my mother who beat this disease, my grandmother who we lost to it and to all those who fought and are continuing to fight this battle,” she captioned Instagram clips and pics of herself ringing the bell, a tradition for cancer patients as they end their treatment.
She added: “I feel like I can do anything now … but first I will start by eating (a lot) of my husband’s stuffing followed by sushi, a sip of a dirty martini and hugs from some [of] my favorite people.”
