Former NBC Today show and CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric announced that she has breast cancer.
Couric shared the news via a very personal post on her website, revealing she has type 1A breast cancer and found out she had cancer on the same day as her 8th wedding anniversary, June 21, 2022.
In the post, Couric opened up about the experience sharing how, back in May, her gynecologists reminded her that she was due for a mammogram.
Couric said she was “normally vigilant, bordering on neurotic, about taking care of my health, especially after my husband Jay died of colon cancer in 1998.”
She scheduled an appointment for June 20 with her breast radiologist, Dr. Susan Drossman, who, on that day, requested tissue samples of her breast for further screening.
“There’s something here that I’d like to check out. It could be scar tissue,” Dr. Drossman told her. Couric also revealed that she had done a breast reduction in 2016.
The following day Dr. Drossman confirmed to Couric, via a phone call, that what she found was indeed cancerous. The news hit her hard.
“I felt sick and the room started to spin. I was in the middle of an open office, so I walked to a corner and spoke quietly, my mouth unable to keep up with the questions swirling in my head.”
As Couric tried to get her bearings straight regarding her diagnosis, she talked about her family’s history of dealing with cancer – its bad and good aspects.
She would be the first one in her family to have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and as she found out, “85 percent of the 264,000 American women diagnosed every year in this country have no family history. I clearly had a lot to learn.”
Couric shared that she had a lumpectomy on July 14 and her radiation treatment started on Sept. 7.
“Why am I telling you all this?” Couric posed. “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.
She added, “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.”
Couric has been heavily involved in the fight against cancer for many years.
In 2011, while she was an anchor at CBS News, she participated in the dedication of a cancer center in Charlottesville, Va., named for her sister Emily Couric. She also teamed up with the city of New York for the Make that Call campaign to raise awareness for colon cancer.
Couric says that during October, the month dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness, she will share more of her experiences, every aspect of breast cancer, and what else she’s learning.