The journalist Katie Couric revealed on Wednesday that she received a breast cancer diagnosis and underwent surgery this past summer.
She shared her experience getting a mammogram and learning the results in a blog post titled Why NOT Me? on her website.
The first day of summer, my eighth wedding anniversary, and the day I learned I had breast cancer all fell on June 21, 2022, she wrote.
Her doctor informed her in May that she needed a mammogram as her last one was in December 2020. She attended her scheduled screening on June 20.
In 2000, while working for the Today programme, Couric had colon cancer screening; she lost her first husband, Jay Monahan, to the disease in 1998. Couric stated she planned to record the test to share with her audience. She gave the technician her phone so he could record it.
She went to a different room after the mammogram to receive a breast ultrasound as a second screening. Since dense breast tissue might make it more difficult for mammograms to detect abnormalities, Couric frequently gets a breast sonogram in addition to a mammography.
After the ultrasonography found a spot right away, she underwent a follow-up biopsy. Her doctor informed her via phone the following day that a biopsy had revealed she had breast cancer.
According to Couric, “I felt terrible, and the room started to spin.” As my voice couldn’t keep up with the questions swirling in my thoughts, I moved to a corner of the open office and spoke quietly.
Why does this matter? Do I require a mastectomy? Do I require chemo? How will the upcoming weeks, months, and even years look?
When Monahan was 41 years old, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. She also recalls the “terrifying, gut-wrenching nine months that followed.” She also recalled her mother-in-law Carol’s battle with ovarian cancer, which she lost to shortly after Monahan did, and her sister Emily’s pancreatic illness, which ultimately claimed her life at the age of 54.
The 65-year-old Couric said that other members of her family had better outcomes with cancer, with her mother’s mantle cell non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s being “held at bay for a decade.” Her present husband, John, had a “tumour the size of a coconut on his liver,” which was medically removed a few months before their wedding, and her father had prostate cancer, which was treated with radioactive seeds.
Couric’s response changed from “Why me?” to “Why not me?,” considering her family’s history of cancer. However, no one in her family had received a breast cancer diagnosis. She discovered throughout her research on breast cancer that 85% of the 264,000 American women who are diagnosed with the disease each year have no prior history of the disease.
In July, Couric made the decision to undergo a lumpectomy to remove a 2.5-centimeter tumour that was “about the size of an olive.” She also underwent radiation therapy, which was completed on Tuesday. She will now take an aromatase inhibitor for five years to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer in the future.
She added, “I kept thinking about two things throughout the process: how fortunate I was to have access to such wonderful care, when so many others don’t. “How fortunate I was to benefit from such incredible technology. The reality that there is a de facto caste structure in American healthcare made me feel grateful, ashamed, and enraged.
According to Couric, she made the decision to share her story in order to serve as an instructional moment and, hopefully, save lives. Throughout October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month all across the world, she intends to talk more about breast cancer awareness, diagnosis, and treatment.
Please schedule a yearly mammogram. This time, I was six months late,” she wrote. “I tremble to consider what would have occurred if I had delayed more. But more crucially, find out if you require further screening, such a breast ultrasound if you have thick breasts.
