Andrea Mitchell Announces She Has Breast Cancer

NBC's veteran chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell announced live on air Wednesday that she has breast cancer.

The 64-year-old host of Andrea Mitchell Reports made the shocking announcement at the end of her show, when she shared that she discovered she had breast cancer at her annual screening.

"I had planned to be hiking in Wyoming last week but instead discovered that I am now among the one in eight women -- incredibly, one in eight -- who've had breast cancer," she said.

"Luckily for me, I'm one of the fortunate ones. We discovered it in the earliest stage, it has not spread, and I'm already back at work with a terrific prognosis."

She devoted part of her closing message to urge her female viewers to get regularly screened for the disease.

"I'm looking at this as another of life's lessons," she said. "For you women out there and for the men who love you, screening matters. Do it."