Alison Hall, a 33-year-old Inside Edition reporter, was unfamiliar with the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool until she covered actress Olivia Munn’s breast cancer story. Despite witnessing her own mother’s battle with the disease, Hall had never encountered the term.

In March 2024, Olivia Munn revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. The diagnosis came after her doctor calculated her Breast Cancer Risk Assessment score, a decision Munn credited with “saving my life” by enabling early detection.

The Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT), also known as the Gail Model, is designed to help healthcare professionals estimate a woman’s likelihood of developing invasive breast cancer both in the next five years and over her lifetime (up to age 90). Developed by the National Cancer Institute, the tool offers a quick, five-minute assessment that incorporates various personal factors to determine risk. These factors include a woman’s age, age at first menstruation, age at the birth of her first child, family history of breast cancer (in mothers, sisters, or daughters), number of prior breast biopsies (and whether they were positive or negative), biopsies showing atypical hyperplasia, and race or ethnicity.

Inspired by Munn’s powerful story, Alison Hall chose to undergo her own breast cancer risk assessment and documented the experience for an Inside Edition segment aimed at raising awareness. During the visit, she discovered that her lifetime risk of developing breast cancer was 36%, closely mirroring Munn’s 37% score. “Wow, okay, that feels high,” Hall remarked upon hearing the result. Privately, she was overwhelmed with a wave of concern and anxiety.

 

 

Women with a lifetime Breast Cancer Risk Assessment score of 20% or higher are classified as high risk for developing breast cancer. Experts recommend that individuals in this category begin annual mammograms and breast MRIs at age 30.

Following her results, Alison Hall began consulting with a doctor in April 2024, who recommended she start routine screenings, including mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRIs. Mammograms play a crucial role in the early detection of breast cancer, a disease that impacts one in eight women in the United States.

In October 2024, after undergoing her first breast MRI, Hall told PEOPLE she was diagnosed with stage zero breast cancer, also known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). This early-stage cancer occurs when abnormal cells form within the milk ducts of the breast but have not yet spread to the surrounding tissue.

Hall felt “Disbelief, shock, and then right away gratitude,” when she learned her diagnosis.

“It really felt just remarkable that if I hadn’t done this story on Olivia Munn’s breast cancer and learned about this test, I would not have caught this cancer this early. It could have been at least another seven years before I was screened in this way,” she added to PEOPLE. “I just felt like this was a gift and that it was just truly miraculous.”

 

 

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After receiving her cancer diagnosis, and plenty of research, Hall decided she wants to get a double mastectomy. This will take care of her existing cancer and massively reduce future risk.

“In the first few weeks of being diagnosed with cancer, you really lose a sense of control over your body and over your life. So for me, doing the double mastectomy feels like the right decision and I think will provide me and my family with peace of mind knowing that I won’t have to go through what my mom went through.”

Hall’s double mastectomy surgery date is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 13.

 

 

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