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One reporter is crediting actress Olivia Munn for saving her life.
Inside Edition’s Alison Hall shared an emotional post via Instagram on Wednesday, January 8, announcing that she has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and is preparing to undergo a mastectomy.
“Let me tell you the story of how Olivia Munn and the show I work for, Inside Edition, played a role in saving my life,” Hall, 33, wrote in the post’s moving caption. “Last spring, after @oliviamunn shared her story about her breast cancer journey, the producers at @insideedition assigned me to the story and sent me to a breast cancer doctor here in NYC to undergo testing, on-camera. Inspired by Olivia, I took the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Test.”
According to Hall, her risk was “revealed to be high,” so the “wonderful doctors” at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City “encouraged me to start a schedule of yearly mammograms and MRIs.”
“I was prepared to do this for a long time and had no idea just how quickly this story would change my life,” she continued. “In October, I had my first breast MRI and a week later just before I turned 33, I became one of millions of women to hear the words ‘you have breast cancer.’”
Hall explained that physicians also told her that her cancer is a “stage zero,” meaning it “has not spread.”
“I have an early form of malignancy called DCIS,” she added. According to Johns Hopkins, DCIS – or ductal carcinoma in situ — is a ‘non-invasive form of breast cancer that develops in the milk ducts of the breast.”
“As you can imagine, I have been on a rollercoaster ride of fear, anxiety, dread AND gratitude,” she continued in the Wednesday post. “My husband reminds me that this is ‘the best, bad news’ we could have gotten. For many reasons including my family history of breast cancer and my own history of breast abnormalities, I’ve decided to not only tackle the current cancer head-on but dramatically reduce my risk of future breast cancer. I’ve chosen to undergo a double mastectomy with reconstruction, next week.”
Munn, 44, revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2024.
“Surprisingly, I’ve only cried twice,” Munn wrote in a lengthy Instagram post detailing her diagnosis and subsequent treatment, which also included a double mastectomy. “I guess I haven’t felt like there was time to cry. My focus narrowed and I tabled any emotions that I felt would interfere with my ability to stay clearheaded,” she wrote at the time.
In her Wednesday Instagram post, Hall said that she considers “this experience a gift,” adding that her diagnosis allows her to “do this for my future self, for my future children.”
“I have some of the best family, friends, dog, therapist, doctors and colleagues in the world who have shown up for me and provided more love than I could imagine,” she added. “I believe in the power of storytelling. Olivia Munn sharing her story saved lives. It certainly had a part in saving mine. I’m sharing my story with the same hope.”
