Former ‘Today’ Show Host Katie Couric Reveals Heartbreaking Diagnosis

The legendary television personality Katie Couric has heartbreakingly revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer back in June.

Couric Diagnosed With Breast Cancer

Couric, 65, revealed her diagnosis in a personal essay that she shared on her website on Wednesday morning. Daily Mail reported that this comes 24 years after her first husband Jay Monahan died of colorectal cancer.

In her essay, Couric opened up about telling her children, Ellie, 31, and Caroline, 26, that she had cancer. 

“Finally, four days after I was diagnosed, I FaceTimed each of them,” she said. “I tried to be as reassuring as Dr. Newman. Their faces froze in disbelief. Then shock. Then they began to cry.”

“They’d already lost one parent [Couric’s first husband Jay],” she continued. “The idea of losing another was unfathomable.”

Couric revealed that she was diagnosed on June 21, which happens to be her eighth wedding anniversary with her current husband John Molner, after she underwent a routine mammogram that her doctor was concerned about. She was told by her doctor to have a biopsy to “check out” something that was spotted during her screening, with the medical professional saying that “it could be scar tissue’ but that she would ‘feel more comfortable’ doing further tests.”

“Ugh. I wasn’t super stoked about having a needle penetrate my breast to extract several tissue samples, but I was grateful she was being so thorough,” Couric continued. “I left with gauze in my bra and the promise she would be in touch.”

Related: Piers Morgan On Why There’s A Special Place In “Hell” Reserved For Katie Couric

Couric Learns Diagnosis 

Couric’s doctor texted her the next day saying that she needed to come in immediately, and it was at this meeting that she was told she had breast cancer.

“I felt sick and the room started to spin,” she recalled. “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.”

Couric could not help but think about the other people in her life that she has lost to cancer. Aside from her first husband, Couric’s sister Emily died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54 back in 2001. Couric’s mother-in-law Carol also succumbed to the disease, passing away from ovarian cancer in 1999; nearly two years after her son Jay.

“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,” she 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 added.

Couric went on to say that her current husband John had a “tumor the size of a coconut on his liver, which was surgically removed just a few months before we got married.” She then said that her “mood quickly shifted from disbelief to resignation” as she went over these thoughts.

“Given my family’s history of cancer, why would I be spared? My reaction went from ‘Why me?’ to ‘Why not me?'”

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Related: Katie Couric Defends Matt Lauer As A ‘Decent’ Man Despite Sexual Misconduct Scandal

Couric’s Treatment

Couric had a lumpectomy on July 14, and her doctor “told her she was pleased with the way things went,” though the tumor was bigger than they thought it was.

Couric was later told that she had Oncotype breast cancer, meaning that this means the likelihood of the disease returning was 19. This is a low enough number that she was told that she could “forgo chemotherapy.” 

Couric began radiation treatment on September 7, writing that “each session lasted about 10 minutes and involved lying face down on a massage-like table with my left breast hanging in an opening, away from my body, so the beams wouldn’t veer off course into my lungs or heart.”

Couric completed her final radiation treatment yesterday, and she said that while her “left breast does look like she’s been sunbathing topless,” she “felt fine” throughout the process. She concluded her essay by explaining why she went public with this. 

“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,” she 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.”

While we’re saddened to see that Couric was secretly battling cancer all summer, we’re glad that it seems like she will be alright! Please join us in saying a prayer for Couric’s health in the future.