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Giuliana Rancic of E! Entertainment News revealed on Today Show today morning that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She was diagnosed in the early stage and her outlook for recovery looks good. She is the same age as I am, and I cant even imagine what she is going through right now.

But what I find remarkable is that despite everything she took a stand and appeared on Today Show to send an important message to all women:
Start putting yourself on the to-do list, start taking care of yourself.

Breast Cancer in Numbers

Giuliana Rancic is among the 1 in 8 women in the United States (12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. According to National Cancer Institute an estimated 230,480 new cases of breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S. in 2011. For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer and besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among U.S. women. More than 1 in 4 cancers in women (about 28%) are breast cancer.

Read more about breast cancer at Breast Cancer Research Foundation and do what Giuliana Rancic recommends: book a time with your doctor for a check-up.

From I’m Not Obsessed.

I’m sitting on a train going to a taping of Martha Stewart show. I am so excited, I have been a huge fan of Martha as long as I can remember. I am dressed in a pink shirt; today’s episode is all about breast cancer awareness, and I am invited to the set by Ford and their Warriors in Pink program.

I am hoping Martha won’t say anything about my pink oxford, which isn’t perfectly starched and ironed… If so, I will tell her I can cook a perfect Thanksgiving turkey, sew my own Christmas gifts and decorate my home with DIY upgraded furniture, thanks to the lovely guidance of my mother and Martha.

My train arrives at Grand Central station and I step outside of the terminal and hail a cab to take me to Martha’s studio. When I arrive at Martha’s studio, there is already a line in the front. I don’t really know what I am supposed to do here, so I just tell the person on the door that I am press, and a minute later I get in. Now, that was easy. Why I haven’t thought of using that line before? See, Martha is already giving me more confidence!

Watch the show on Friday, October 16th.

After a security check I am hurdled into a screening room, where I see a pink crowd of ladies already chatting away, and luckily I spot an old friend, Esti of Primetime Parenting and I steal a seat next to her. Joe-something walks in, he is doing a warm-up with the audience, telling us how and when to clap our hands and when ooh and aah. I had no idea Martha had to get fake clapping, I thought people just genuinely clapped for her highness.

We wait for another half an hour and then we are walked to the actual studio. I can not believe how large the studio is, and I am impressed with all of the sets packed in! The coolest thing – there is a large industrial kitchen on the side of the set, and Martha’s team is already cooking and looking busy as elves the night before Christmas.

We get to wait on our seats for another 45 minutes before it is time to start the show, I am feeling so excited when we all start clapping our hands under Joe’s guidance, and then Martha walks in from the double doors.

On the set with Christy of More than Mommy and Vera of INO Mommy.

Martha interviews Dr. Dara P. Richardson about breast cancer, and breast cancer risks, and cooks celery root and ginger gold apple soup and yogurt panna cotta with chef Amanda Freitag – - and the audience of cancer survivors dressed in pink ooh and aah, and clap their hands as Martha speaks about a few good things using her signature line. The climax of the show is that one of the audience members will get a brand new Ford Taurus, and when the winner is announced, she runs downstairs on the street with Martha to sit in a car she just won. She feels overwhelmed and doesn’t really know what to say.

The camera rolls while the winner is waving in her new car, and then the show taping is over.

After the show Martha walks back to the studio just to inform she doesn’t have time for interviews, she has a meeting, and she smiles and leaves. We are given 5 minutes to take a few photos of the studios and then waved good-byes. The chefs at Martha’s kitchen are still busy cooking, and someone is already taking photos of cooked foods at the studio, maybe for her magazine or website.

Like the scarf Martha and the show audience are wearing? It is from Warriors in Pink store, where 100% of the proceeds go for fighting against breast cancer.

I’ll get a car back to Grand Central Station and jump on the next train going home and pull my laptop out and do some writing on the way home. In the front of me there is an older couple sitting and talking about the show and I see the pink gift bags given for the audience – what a coincidence that they attended the show too! I almost want to go over, and ask a few questions what they thought about the experience and Martha. But the older lady seems tired, and I noticed her husband taking her hand as she smiles happily back saying she is happy they went. I leave them alone and realize that seeing them was the highlight of my day; Martha had touched this couple as she did so many else with a show dedicated to breast cancer survivors.

I wonder if Martha is doing her Apprentice show again – see, I could totally be Martha’s foreign side-kick, or should I just directly try to have Katja Show…?