A little over a week after Jenna Fischer publicly announced her breast cancer diagnosis, the former “The Office” actress is opening up about her journey, her treatment and how her mindset has changed.

On October 8, Fischer, 50, shared an Instagram post for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in which she revealed that she was diagnosed with Stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer in December 2023. She wrote that after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, she is now cancer-free.

In a one-on-one interview with TODAY's Hoda Kotb that aired Oct. 21, Fischer said she hopes sharing her story will bring comfort and hope to another woman diagnosed with breast cancer.

The diagnosis

The actress told Hoda that she went in for her routine mammogram appointment in October 2023, which she had been putting off.

“Three weeks later they said, ‘Oh, your mammogram was fine. There were a few places that were difficult to see. They have a very dense tissue. “We would recommend that you get another mammogram and maybe follow up with a breast ultrasound,” she said of the conversation with her doctor.

“I thought, 'This is the date that never ends,'” Fischer added with a laugh.

She explained that she felt “no level of concern” when she returned for a breast ultrasound. However, they then asked her to do a biopsy, saying there was a “10% chance” of it being cancer.

Fischer said she was on a hike alone when she received the results through her patient portal.

“I checked the portal on the hike and I saw words like 'invasive,' 'ductal,' 'carcinoma,' 'malignant,'” she said. “And I thought, 'These words sound like cancer words.'”

She then called her husband, Lee Kirk, to tell him the results. However, she wasn't sure if it was cancer until her doctor confirmed it later that same day.

When her doctor told her about her diagnosis, Fischer said she was just in “disbelief.”

“I think the news that really hit me was when we found out I was triple positive and my oncologist said chemotherapy. “I really lost it,” she said.

Treatment

Fischer opened up to Hoda about the reality that she lost her hair during chemotherapy, which she said was one of the side effects that worried her most.

“At first I just had a big bald spot on this side of my head. And I would comb it really elaborately,” she said with a laugh. “I thought, 'Oh, I understand why the gentlemen are doing this now.' Yes, I can pretend this isn't there for a while.'”

Although Fischer said she's thought about it, she's never had a “big head-shaving moment.” In addition to styling her new piece, she said she also decided to wear more hats and wigs during treatment.

Relying on your support system

When it came to sharing the news with friends and family, the “Hall Pass” actress revealed one of the first people she called after receiving her diagnosis: Christina Applegate.

“I called her and she answered the phone and said, 'Which one is this?' And I said, 'It's breast cancer.' And she said, 'I fucking knew it,'” Fischer recalled of their conversation. “She’s salty. This is salty language. I love her for that.”

Fischer said Applegate put her in touch with other survivors and they began their journey “together.”

When she told her children, Weston Lee, 13, and Harper Marie, 10, Fisher said she and her husband “sat down with them” and were “very honest with them.”

“They are 10 and 13 and would be living in the house while I went through this. You will see it. And the most important thing I wanted to tell them was that the way I appeared sick during this process were side effects of treatments. It wasn’t cancer that made me sick,” she said.

“That distinction, I think, really calmed them down. And then we just did it together. And they were great.”

Where things are

Fischer said in addition to chemotherapy, she also underwent a lumpectomy and radiation. After her final performances, the actress said she was cancer-free, although she will continue taking Tamoxifen and Herceptin for the next year.

Fischer told Hoda that two saving graces during her experience were maintaining a sense of humor and normalcy.

“Humor helped with all of this. And working helped. And it helped to stay in the world,” she said. “My oncology nurse Ron was a great man. … When I started chemotherapy, he said to me, 'Listen, I want you to get up every day and I want you to walk every day.'”

“‘I want you to drink a lot of water. Walking and water. That's what I want from you. And I want you to take care of these children. The women who stand up and are there, in my experience, are the women who are better off.'”

Fischer said one of the best pieces of advice she received was to “live your life during this process” while listening to your body.

“I did,” she said. “And some days I just walked circles in my own living room. Some days I walked around the block. But I got up every day and did these things. And I think it made a really big difference.”

Looking back on the past year, Fischer told Hoda that one of the biggest lessons she's learned is the impact that caring for other people has.

“So many people have taken care of me, my family and my children, and I'm so grateful for that – in so many small ways,” she said. “And the thing is, everyone had the right way or the perfect way to do it.”

Fischer explained that some friends put their chemotherapy schedule on their calendar, while others sent thoughtful text messages and picked up their children from school. She said her mother-in-law recorded prayers that she sent before treatments.

The mother of two said this whole journey has made her look at the world from a new perspective of gratitude.

“I liked that people got upset when I was late with an email,” she said. “I liked being seen as my old self, so to speak.”

“All the important things became clear so quickly. And the cool thing is that that focus never goes away. So I will be allowed to carry this with me now. … I would say that I think the world, in all its peculiarities, is a beautiful place.”

Fischer added that everyday annoyances had suddenly become “charming” for her.

“As you know, just traffic. “Oh, look at you, sweet traffic. “Look at all the people just walking somewhere,” she said. “How great that I can sit in traffic. How cool.”

Fischer’s final takeaway from her experience is a message to all women: “Please don’t skip your mammogram appointment. Please take part in any additional examinations the doctor requires of you.”

She attributes the success of her treatments to her early diagnosis, encouraging more people to book the “annoying” appointment.

“If I had waited another six months, things could have been much worse. It could have spread. It was a very aggressive form of cancer,” Fischer said. “I am very lucky that my cancer has not spread to my lymph nodes. It hadn’t spread anywhere else in my body.”

“My tumor was still very small, too small to feel,” she added. “That's the thing. A self-examination would not have discovered the cancer. It was really that routine mammogram that started it all. And I’m so grateful that I went to that appointment.”