Andrea Mitchell Announces Breast Cancer Diagnosis On-Air [VIDEO]

NBC News' chief foreign affairs correspondent revealed that she has breast cancer on Wednesday, toward the end of the hour on her MSNBC show Andrea Mitchell Reports.

I had planned to be hiking in Wyoming last week, but instead discovered that I am now among the one in eight women in this country -- incredibly one in eight -- who have had breast cancer, the 64-year-old reporter said.

Fortunately, Mitchell said her prognosis is excellent and that her doctor caught the cancer in its earliest stage during her annual screening.

Mitchell used her announcement as an opportunity to encourage other women to keep on top of their physical health and remember that regular mammograms can be lifesaving.

For you women out there and for the men who love you, screening matters, she said. Do it. This disease can be completely curable, if you find it at the right time.

Although Mitchell said she has long since supported breast cancer research prevention and cures and has participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, her connection to that community is now personal and much deeper.

Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease to affect women of all races, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2011, it is estimated that approximately 230,500 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S., resulting in about 39,500 fatalities.