Katie Couric announced Wednesday that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the year. The journalist assured everyone in a long post on her website that she is doing fine and that her prognosis was good.
According to Couric, it was during a mammogram on June 20 of this year – six months later than she’d intended – that her doctor found “something here that I’d like to check out,”To be safe. Couric was informed the next day. “Your biopsy came back. It’s cancer. You’re going to be fine but we need to make a plan.”
Couric stated that Couric was able to recall her memories. “felt sick and the room started to spin.” She recalled being particularly terrified, given the fact that her husband Jay Monahan died from colon cancer 24 years ago, as well as her own biological family’s history with the sickness.
“The heart-stopping, suspended animation feeling I remember all too well came flooding back: Jay’s colon cancer diagnosis at 41 and the terrifying, gutting nine months that followed,”Couric wrote. “My sister Emily’s pancreatic cancer, which would later kill her at 54, just as her political career was really taking off. My mother-in-law Carol’s ovarian cancer, which she was fighting as she buried her son, a year and nine months before she herself was laid to rest.”
Couric was still concerned, even though some of her relatives were able to fight cancer for longer. “My mood quickly shifted from disbelief to resignation,”She said. “Given my family’s history of cancer, why would I be spared? My reaction went from ‘Why me?’ to ‘Whynotme?’”
Couric’s doctor informed her that her tumor had been removed. “highly treatable,”It was especially surprising because it was caught so quickly.
Couric shared that she had undergone a “breast conservation”Surgery was performed in July and there was no chance of the cancer returning. “low enough to forgo chemotherapy.”The journalist reported that she had started radiation earlier in the month and is now fully recovered. “felt fine.”
“Why am I telling you all this? Well, since I’m the ‘Screen Queen’ of colon cancer, it seemed odd to not use this as another teachable moment that could save someone’s life,”Couric wrote. “Please get your annual mammogram. I was six months late this time. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had put it off longer. But just as importantly, please find out if you need additional screening.”
