Amy Robach Initially Turned Down On-Air Mammogram That ‘Saved’ Her Life

Amy Robach is looking back at one of her most important Good Morning America segments.

The former ABC morning show host appeared on the Tuesday, March 24, episode of Jennie Garth‘s I Choose Me podcast, during which she reflected on being asked to undergo a mammogram live on GMA back in 2013.

“I’ve always said, I can never be mad at ABC News or regret being in the profession I’m in because it absolutely saved my life,” Robach stated, referring to how she and her now-fiancé, T.J. Holmes, were let go from the network in early 2023 following an investigation into their affair.

On the podcast, Robach noted that she was under the recommended age to get a mammogram when she was asked to do so for GMA. Additionally, she was deterred from the idea due to her large family’s lack of breast cancer history. “I always kind of prided myself on our good genes. No one had breast cancer. It just was not even on my radar,” she stated. “When they asked me to get a mammogram, I just said, ‘I’m not the right person. I have no connection. No one has cancer in my family. I’m really healthy. I’m not your girl.'”

It was GMA‘s Robin Roberts — who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 — who ultimately changed her mind. “[She] told me, ‘You’re exactly the person who should do this because you think you don’t need it.’ She’s like, ‘And I’m sure you’re fine,'” Robach shared. “She was like, ‘If you walk into that [mammogram van in Times Square] and you get a mammogram on live national television, I guarantee you, you will save a life. Some woman will make her appointment, she will go, and she will find her cancer because of you.'”

 

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Robach said it was “impossible” to refuse Roberts’ request. What she didn’t know until shortly after the test was that she had “two malignant tumors” in her right breast and a “positive lymph node.” She was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer shortly after and subsequently underwent a double mastectomy and six rounds of chemotherapy, among other treatments.

“At 40, I went into menopause,” she told Garth. “I know people hate their period, and they complain about their period, but I have to tell you, when it’s taken from you at 40 and you’re told you cannot have children, you’re done — that wasn’t the worst part, obviously, just being afraid and concerned about having cancer and recurrence.”

Robach credited a friend of hers who has been battling stage four cancer for seven years for being an “inspiration” and giving her “constant perspective.” She stated, “We complain about all the little things in life. Guess what? People every day out there are fighting for their lives, to get one more day, to get one more week, one more moment with the people they love.”

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Robach, who is now cancer-free, continued, “When you’ve had a double mastectomy and you’ve got scars, you’ve got these hard rocks, you have no feeling … I feel like I have two foreign objects sewn onto me. Your chest never feels the same. It’s this strange sensation. So, in a way, just from that sensation of the double mastectomy, it’s always in the back of your mind. You know that you’re a cancer survivor. And you’d think that that would just always put me in a mood, where I’m not going to complain about someone cutting me off, or it’s raining when I want it to be sunny, or whatever. I forget. I have to remind myself that, ‘Hey, I’m here. I woke up. It’s good. I’m good.'”

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