Giuliana Rancic to have double mastectomy in breast cancer fight

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Giuliana Rancic appeared on NBC’s ‘Today’ show Monday morning to announce that she’s planning to undergo a double mastectomy as the next step in her battle against breast cancer.

The E! News host and star of the reality show ‘Giuliana & Bill’ sat beside husband Bill and discussed her decision to move forward with the procedure after a double lumpectomy failed to properly clear the cancer from her body.

‘Today’s’ Ann Curry asked Rancic, who made her desire to have children the focus of her reality show, what role her parenting plans played into the decision to have the mastectomy.

‘If I’d chosen to just do another lumpectomy and then do radiation, and then do anti-estrogen therapy, which means two to five years of medication, that basically puts me into early menopause,’ Rancic said. ‘Then I would have to put off having a baby for several years. So that was something we took into account. But to be honest, at the end it came down to choosing to live and not looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.’

Rancic said it was her husband’s words that really stuck with her. ‘Bill said to me, ‘I just need you around for the next 50 years, kid,’ ‘ she said.... ‘’I don’t care what you look like, I don’t care about the physical portion of this, I just need you around for the next 50 years, so let’s get you healthy.’ And that helped me come to a decision.’

Rancic disclosed on ‘Today’ in October that she had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. She underwent the double lumpectomy in mid-October and returned to E! after.

Bill Rancic told Curry he had his eye on the finish line. ‘Our goal is to be done with this by Christmas time and then don’t look back.’

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-- Patrick Kevin Day