New Zealand TV personality Jaquie Brown says she is “overwhelmed” and “grateful” to be in treatment following a recent cancer diagnosis, and swift mastectomy a month later.

Brown, 50, was told in April that she had cancer. In May, she had surgery to have it removed, she shared in a Facebook post on Friday. The cancer had been in her left breast for years, she said, despite years of clear mammograms.

“‘I’m so sorry, but it’s cancer.’ Not the best thing I’ve ever heard. Not even in the top 10,” she wrote.

“Sitting across from my breast specialist in April, all I could think was, this has to be a mistake. I’m so healthy! You should see how much broccoli I eat. I give to charity. I let other cars merge in front of me. I rescue worms from the rain.

“But there, on the screen in front of me, was a scan of my left breast with an Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer (ILC) that’d been in there for at least a couple of years despite my clear mammograms. ILC is sneaky like that. It grows through the breast in thin, single-file strands, making it harder to pick up early with standard screening.”

Brown was diagnosed in April, and in May had surgery to have the cancer removed.

In May she had a mastectomy, and “the weed was removed”.

“Now treatment is focused on keeping my garden inhospitable to rogue cancer seeds. Radiation, infusions, more surgeries, injections and pills - this is a plan I’ll be on for 10 years. It’s a profound shift in my body’s chemistry and honestly, I’m both overwhelmed and grateful.

“My mantra is ‘adjust then thrive’, and that’s what I plan on doing. I’m currently in the wobbly adjust phase, but I’ve got my eye on thrive.”

In 2023, Brown interviewed her friend, comedian Dai Henwood about his cancer diagnosis on TV3's The Project . She also wrote her friend’s memoir, The Life of Dai in 2024.

Henwood lives with stage four bowel cancer which had spread to his liver and lungs. He was diagnosed in 2020 when the country was in lockdown.

On Friday, Brown wrote what she had learned from that friendship and writing the book.

“Dai Henwood taught me that a diagnosis isn’t just for you; it’s for everyone who cares about you, too. Everything I learned from Dai in writing The Life of Dai has come into sharp focus since April. Thank you, Dai, for your friendship and for preparing me for this without even realising it.”