Her Toughest Opponent How Tennis Champ Martina Navratilova Battled and Beat Cancer

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT:This year, more than 1.3 million women worldwide will hear the words that have breast cancer"-four words that will change their lives forever. That single moment will become a turning point, the start of a tenacious I battle against a killer. The day she heard those four words, Martina Navratilova cried. A woman who defected from Czechoslovakia at the age of 18, bravely blazed the trail for homosexual acceptance, a woman who many considered the best tennis player who ever lived, now braced for the fight of her life.Navratilova dominated the competition in the late '70s, '80s and early '90s. She won the Wimbledon singles title a record nine times. With 59 grand slam tennis titles, she has more titles. than any other man or woman.

MARTONA NAVRATILOVA, TENNIS CHAMPION:Well, I had a mammogram in January and they said I need to come back for a closer look. In February, I went back and they magnified it. They said, "well, there's a cluster. Probably do a biopsy just to be sure." First I went to Denver to get the biopsy on a Tuesday and they said, "Ah, it looks pretty good. Should be nothing." Wednesday, my doctor Mindy, who is a very good friend of mine, calls me and says, "Are you sitting down?" And I'm like，"Uh, why?" She said, "Well, it came back positive."

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT:Navratilova was struck with the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer. Intraductal cancer is also known as ductal carcinoma in situ, often referred to as DCIS for short. The word "carcinoma" means it begins in the skin or tissue, like breast tissue. This cancer starts inside the milk ducts. In Navratilova's case, the news is encouraging, because the cancer is isolated and had not spread to the surrounding tissue. But like more than a million women worldwide, the diagnosis came as a shock. She didn't feel sick at all. She was the picture of health and fitness. On March 15, Navratilova, surrounded by her support team traveled to the U.S. state of Colorado for the first stage of her treatment-a lumpectomy. A lumpectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the lump along with some of the tissue that surrounds the area. It's a breast preserving surgery, far less radical than a mastectomy in which a lot of breast tissue is removed. The surgery typically takes between 15 and 40 minutes, and scarring is minimal, but the lumpectomy is only one step on the journey to become cancer free. The next stage of Navratilova's treatment, radiation, will begin on May 12. Radiation therapy, also called radiotherapy, is a highly targeted, effective way to destroy microscopic tumors that may have escaped surgery. In Navratilova's case, she will receive radiation therapy four to five times a week for six weeks. One side effect of radiation therapy is exhaustion caused as the body works to repair damage to healthy cells. Typically fatigue occurs in the later weeks of treatment.

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, TENNIS CHAMPION:My worst day by far of the six weeks was Friday of the fourth week, which was the day off. I think we played Thursday and then we played Saturday, and Friday I went to hit and I was so tired I lasted about 15 minutes. I had to stop. I had no energy. And I thought... and it gets worse, usually.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT:Like all women who have been diagnosed with cancer, she will see her doctor regularly for follow-Ups to ensure there is no recurrence. She'll also have a mammogram every six months. June 16, the day Martina Navratilova had looked forward to for a while, the day of her last radiation treatment.