As a 9-time Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova faced some tough opponents on the court, but nothing prepared her for the most difficult challenge of her life, battling breast cancer. "I was in shock," the 53-year-old tennis legend recalls about hearing the diagnosis. "I just started crying and thought, what do we do?" In addition to the lumpectomy recommended by her doctor, Martina took the fight into her own hands. "I went to the grocery store and loaded up on organic fruits and vegetables. I already juiced, but I was like, I have to juice some more; I have to get even healthier on the inside to help fight this. In the past when I've had surgeries it was for my knees, from playing tennis ... With this thing, you can do everything you possibly can, but you don't control it, you're not in control, but at least I wanted to give myself the best chance possible, so you fight."

Today, Martina is free from DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ, a non-invasive form of cancer that doesn't require chemo), and she is still scheduled to undergo a 6-week radiation treatment in May. "Of course, I'm afraid that it will come back," she says, "but in the meantime I'll be doing everything I possibly can to make sure it doesn't." Martina even held a live webchat to share her story and to learn from other women who had gone through the same experience. (Read the transcription from the chat here)

Martina explains the irony of being the Health and Fitness Ambassador for the AARP when she was diagnosed. "I was telling people how to take care of their bodies on the outside," she tells Rachael, "but I didn't take care of mine on the inside, by not having my check-ups." Martina admits that she didn't go to the doctor for four years - a mistake that could have proved tragic and that should hopes can be a lesson to women everywhere. "I'm lucky that the mammogram revealed that I had the calcifications and I can fight it much earlier. If I hadn't done the mammogram and I got a lump two years later, by then it's a little late and it's everywhere and I have a fifty-fifty chance of survival. I really want to encourage women to have the mammogram every year because without it you don't know."

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Webchat with Martina Navratilova