Amy Robach became emotional when her doctor revealed that treatments for breast cancer—and research into the disease—are improving.
The former Good Morning America co-anchor was diagnosed with stage 2 invasive breast cancer in 2013 after receiving a mammogram live on air and subsequently undergoing follow-up tests. She went on to have a double mastectomy, several rounds of chemotherapy and reconstructive surgery—completing her treatment in 2014—and she is now in remission.
Since then, Robach has been helping to raise awareness and funds to fight the disease. During a special episode of her podcast, Amy & T.J., titled “Be Aware of Your Breasts” for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Robach and co-host T.J. Holmes spoke to Dr. Ruth Oratz, who helped save Robach’s life when she went through her cancer battle.
Amy Robach at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation New York Symposium & Awards Luncheon on October 27, 2022, in New York City. Robach teared up during an episode of her podcast.
Noam Galai/Getty Images for BCRF
“The good news is, our treatments [are] way better. Way better then it was, so we understand much more about the biology of breast cancer. Basic science research is critically important in pushing this field forward. So we have to keep funding research in the laboratory where the scientists are digging into those molecular mechanisms of why is that cell turning into a cancer cell, what’s making it grow, what’s making it travel, what’s making it spread,” Dr. Oratz explained.
“Now our therapies are more and more targeted to the type of breast cancer that someone has and they work better, the treatments are more effective. We can learn to turn on—switch on and off—all the different pathways in the cell. It’s really, really exciting. I’ve seen that change over the course of my career and I know there are people alive and well who wouldn’t have been when I first went into practice. And that is the greatest, greatest joy in my clinic work.”
Robach added: “I’ve got to say, that that brings tears to my eyes just to hear that.”
The doctor also said that in America, they have reduced breast cancer mortality. While more research needs to be done into causation, she said that medical professionals are “definitely doing better on treatment.”
In response to hearing this, Robach brought up her friend, Morgan Mitchell, who has Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Metastatic refers to the spread of cancer cells from the place where they first formed to other parts of the body.
“Dr. Oratz, anyone who is listening to this podcast I’m sure is familiar with our dear friend Morgan Mitchell who is Stage 4 metastatic, she is going to be celebrating her seven-year anniversary come December,” she said.
“That also brings tears to my eyes and gives me chills, because that was unheard of not that long ago, or at least in recent history. Where are we in terms of women who are living with Stage 4 and how they’re living and how long they’re living?”
Dr. Oratz explained that a lot of research starts in the Stage 4 setting, with people who have advanced cancer because medical professionals can see how the treatments are working.
“I lost a patient last week who was very very dear to me and I took care of her for 27 years and the last 10 of those years she had metastatic breast cancer, but she lived a good life, with a really good quality of life,” she continued.
“She was able to work and continue her career and be with her family and travel and enjoy herself and it was only at the very end in the last few months where it got really rough, but that never would have happened in the past. And that’s because of all of these new targeted therapies, not only are they effective, but we really, really, really work on trying to help people live well and have a good quality of life and do whatever we can to minimize side effects and minimize the toxicities of our treatments.”
Dr. Oratz also expressed the importance of going for a mammogram. While she said it doesn’t prevent cancer, it could prevent someone from dying from cancer.
“So, it’s really, really important, if we find a small tumor, even if it’s an aggressive subtype—because not all breast cancers are the same, lots of different types of breast cancer—but, we know that size in this situation still counts,” she said.
“And if it’s small, and it hasn’t spread too far, we usually have a much better chance of eradicating it completely and eliminating those problems further down the road.”
Newsweek emailed Robach for comment on Wednesday outside of normal business hours.
