Robin Roberts, co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America” announced Monday that she is fighting a rare blood disease and will undergo a bone-marrow transplant later this summer or in the fall.
Roberts, emotional at times, was surrounding by her co-hosts and former co-host, Diane Sawyer when she informed her television audience she has a disease called preleukemia, a complication which arose when she was treated for breast cancer five years ago. The disease is also known as MDS or Myelodysplastic Syndrome.
“I am going to beat this, my doctors say this, and my faith says it” said a confident Roberts.
Roberts said, she has always been a fighter and begins pre-treatment for the disease later today. She said that her big sister is almost a perfect match and she is going to be her donor for the bone-marrow transplant.
Roberts wrote on her blog:
I received my MDS diagnosis on the very day that Good Morning America finally beat the Today Show for the first time in 16 years. Talk about your highs and lows! Then a few weeks ago, during a rather unpleasant procedure to extract bone marrow for testing, I received word that I would interview President Obama the next day. The combination of landing the biggest interview of my career and having a drill in my back reminds me that God only gives us what we can handle and that it helps to have a good sense of humor when we run smack into the absurdity of life.
Bottom line: I’ve been living with this diagnosis for awhile and will continue to anchor GMA. I love what I do and the people with whom I do it. Along with my faith, family and friends, all of you at ABC News give me the motivation and energy to face this challenge.
Roberts said, she will be out for a chunk of time particularly when the bone-marrow transplant is done.
“It’s focusing on the fight and not the fright,” Roberts declared. “This too shall pass…. God is good all the time.”
