Jackie Tohn said on the TODAY show on May 15 that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy in December after learning she carries a BRCA1 mutation and facing a breast cancer risk she described as 85%.
Tohn said the decision came after a fast-moving family health scare that began in January 2025, when her father found lumps under his arm and was diagnosed with metastatic carcinomas, later identified as male breast cancer. She said testing showed he was BRCA1 positive, and genetic testing later showed she had the same mutation.
That result changed the way Tohn looked at her own health. She said a genetic counselor told her the BRCA1 mutation meant she had an 85% chance of getting breast cancer. Her father’s diagnosis, she said, pushed her into genetic testing after what she described as “crazy experiences” that left her confronting the risk more directly than she expected.
Tohn said she initially thought more intensive monitoring might be enough, including annual breast MRI and mammograms. But she also said the path to surgery sharpened when she learned of inconclusive breast MRI results while on the way to present at the Creative Arts Emmys. On Dec. 1, 2025, she underwent the preventive double mastectomy and breast reconstruction.
The pathology from the removed tissue showed why the choice mattered. Tohn said analysis found multiple pre-cancerous, concerning cells in both breasts. “When the doctor called me, in a wonderful way, she was almost shrieking with joy,” she said, describing the result as the kind of news that confirmed the surgery had likely caught something before it turned into cancer.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations normally help suppress cancerous tumors, but certain changes in those genes can sharply raise the risk of breast, prostate and ovarian cancer. Tohn, who is a paid partner for Myriad, said she had been dealing with the issue privately while she was on a career high, a contrast that made the health decision harder to keep hidden.
Her father’s case shaped the way she thought about risk. Tohn said, “In January of 2025, my dad found lumps under his arm, and went to the doctor and they turned out to be metastatic carcinomas.” She said he later tested BRCA1 positive, and she learned the same about herself. “It’s like someone giving you a single nail and being like, build the house, there’s a field,” she said, describing how little guidance she felt she had at first.
In the end, Tohn said she chose surgery rather than wait. “That was when I said, OK, put on my big girl pants, and I’m just doing this,” she said. Her message for others was blunt: “The three things you should look out for (in your family) are rare, young and mu,” a reminder, she suggested, that unusual clusters of cancer in a family should not be ignored.
The surgery and the pathology results answered the question her testing had raised. For Tohn, the preventive operation was not an overreaction; it was the step that found multiple concerning cells before they could become something worse.
