Veteran Reporter Andrea Mitchell Reveals She Has Breast Cancer

Urges women to get screened

Longtime NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell disclosed she has breast cancer, and urged women to get screened for the disease.

Mitchell, the network's chief foreign affairs correspondent and wife of former Treasury Secretary Alan Greenspan, revealed her health issue on air Wednesday, and said the prognosis is "terrific."

"I had planned to be hiking in Wyoming last week, but instead discovered that I am now among the 1 in 8 women in this country β€” incredibly 1 in 8 β€” who have had breast cancer," Mitchell said.

She said her cancer was caught in the "earliest stages," but did not say what kind of treatment she had undergone.

"Mine was discovered during my annual screening just a short time ago," she said. "Luckily for me, I am one of the fortunate ones who discovered it in the earliest stage. It had not spread and I am already back at work with a terrific prognosis."

Mitchell, 64, is also host of "Andrea Mitchell Reports,"an hour of political news and interviews with top newsmakers that airs each day at 1 p.m. ET on MSNBC.

Mitchell's colleagues immediately expressed support and admiration.

"Andrea Mitchell is one of the bravest women I know and always an inspiration," tweeted Norah O'Donnell, of the CBS Evening News. "She's proved that again today."

The "Today" show's Savannah Guthrie also took to Twitter to offer support. "Bravo, Andrea," she tweeted. "You are most adored."

Mitchell currently covers foreign policy, intelligence and national security issues, including the diplomacy of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for all NBC News properties.

As a featured political correspondent in 2004, Mitchell was a regular panelist on MSNBC’s β€œHardball” and was the first reporter to break the story that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry had chosen Sen. John Edwards as his vice presidential running mate.

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