Robin Roberts: Cancer Prognosis ‘Quite Good’

JACKSON, Miss. (August 23, 2007) — Robin Roberts’ prognosis is “quite good.”

“The cancer is out of my body and I’m healing from the surgery,” the “Good Morning America” co-host told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. “Hopefully, the plan now is to keep it out.”

She announced on ABC’s morning show July 31 that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery Aug. 3.

The 46-year-old Roberts said doctors will wait several weeks for her to heal before having her undergo more treatment, which may mean chemotherapy. Roberts said she did not want to be specific about her treatment until she is certain what it will be.

“The prognosis is quite good,” she said. “I did find it in the early stages. I am very confident and they (doctors) are very confident that it is going to be fine. The road getting there is going to be a little bumpier than I anticipated and they anticipated. I am better off than so many people who find it so late and that is why I am grateful and that again is why my battle cry is early detection.”

Roberts, who grew up in Pass Christian, Miss., said her mother “was fussing at me” for returning to work less than two weeks after her surgery.

She added that not every person who undergoes the surgery can make the decision to return that quickly to work.

“When it comes to cancer it is personal. It’s not one size fits all. You have to do what is right for you,” she said.

Since being diagnosed with the disease, Roberts said it felt like her life was moving at “90 mph.” After the surgery, the former sportscaster described the weeks between the next step in treatment as “halftime.”