Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who’s been conspicuously absent from Fox and Friends, revealed on-air Friday that doctors had found a tumor in her abdomen.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Had Tumor Removed

After a one-month absence from Fox and Friends, Hasselbeck, 37, returned Friday and apprised viewers of the show of her health. “I had a tumor in my abdomen,” she said at the top of the show. “Doctor said, ‘You’ve got to get it out by the end of the month. We don’t like how it looks.’ I was facing something that potentially could have gone either way.”

Hasselbeck ultimately had to have the tumor removed and then had to wait to find out whether or not it was cancerous. Thankfully for the Fox personality, the tumor was benign.

“I had a scary week where we didn’t know what the results were,” she said. “But I’m okay. Everything came back okay. Surgery’s not fun, but it is necessary to find out if you have something really terrible in you or not. And thankfully I had the blessing of it not being cancer.”

Hasselbeck said she was fortunate to have the support of her “hospital buddy” husband Tim Hasselbeck and Fox News president Roger Ailes throughout the frightening ordeal. Had things gone differently for her, Hasselbeck said she would have found the strength to battle cancer – like many people she knows.

“So many women and people that I know have stared down the barrel of that cancer gun, and looked at it when they have gotten bad news … and done remarkable things, courageously, to fight it,” Hasselbeck said. “So I knew if I got that kind of news I would be in their wings and, by their example, able to fight it. I didn’t get that message and answer from my doctors. I got a clear and clean bill of health, and I’m thankful.”

Hasselbeck added, “I’m not a person who thinks or believes that I take a lot for granted, but I certainly don’t take it for granted now.”