How Ali Clarke's tearful confession on live radio may have changed the lives of 779 strangers

When Adelaide radio host Ali Clarke shared her breast cancer diagnosis publicly, she couldn't have imagined the impact it would have on hundreds of strangers.

She shared the news on live radio on Tuesday morning, revealing her plans to step back from her Mix 102.3 show as she undergoes a bilateral mastectomy.

Watch the video above.

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"It was important to tell our listeners because I have had the privilege of them trusting me with their stories, and so I trust them with mine," she said.

"I wanted them to hear it from me, in my words, and give them a chance to ask anything they want."

Little did she know the effect her words would have on all the women listening.

On Wednesday morning, BreastScreen SA Program Director Lauren Civetta revealed that Clarke's public comments led 779 women to book in for a breast screen across South Australia.

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The usual number of bookings for a single day is around 350, less than half of what was recorded on Tuesday.

In fact, Tuesday was BreastScreen's second biggest day of bookings on record in South Australia, only trailing behind the day that Kylie Minogue announced her cancer diagnosis.

The numbers are an incredible testament to the power of women sharing their own stories and experiences with women's health issues like breast cancer.

By making her own diagnosis public, Clarke might have just saved some of the 779 women now booked in for a screening.

About 57 Australians are diagnosed with breast cancer every day, adding up to over 20,000 people each year.

A staggering one in seven women will be diagnosed in their lifetime and nine Aussies lose their lives to the disease every single day.

Speaking about her emotional wellbeing since her diagnosis, Clarke confessed: "When I sit back and try to reason with it, I'm about to lose a part of me that society has forever told me actually makes me a woman."

But at the same time, she said "the other biggest part of my brain knows that this is really what needs to happen for me to be good".

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