Utah TV Anchor's On-Air Mammogram Leads to Cancer Diagnosis

A Utah television news anchor who underwent a mammogram on camera announced Thursday she found out she has breast cancer as a result of the screening.

Mary Nickles, a reporter and weekend anchor for Salt Lake City CBS affiliate KUTV, had a mammogram in October as part of a news story encouraging women to get themselves screened for breast cancer. Shortly after, she was told doctors found a small tumor on her left breast. She revealed the news Thursday on Facebook.

"We shot the whole story and they took a second look at one little area," Nickles told KUTV.  "I've had dense tissue looked at a second time before and I thought, 'Okay, no big deal.' Well then they said, 'You have to come back in for an ultrasound.'"

But Nickles said she said she was busy and put off going back, thinking it was just another dense spot.

"Well, then I get a phone call saying, 'Hey, we really need you to come back in,'" she said. "The biopsy results came in the next day and he told me that it was malignant -- that it is cancer."

Doctors said the tumor was caught at a very early stage, and wouldn't have shown on a mammogram even a year before. She underwent a successful lumpectomy and will soon undergo chemotherapy and radiation. She's started a blog to keep viewers informed of her condition and the station is running a story on her diagnosis.

"I'm not as scared about cancer itself. Cancer sucks -- but it's not a death sentence," she said. "And you have to see it that way."

Watch Nickles's original report below: