One week and three days after her
surgery, ABC's "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts was back on the air declaring, "
Cancer doesn't have a shot with this team."
"I'm not ready to do the chicken dance any time soon. One wing is still under repair, the Mississippi Coast native said. "I am so thankful the surgery is behind me. I still have a road ahead of me. But it is a journey that many have taken before me and boy are they showing me the way."
Several times during the Monday morning broadcast she mentioned "team," a reference to her circle of close-knit family and friends, and countless admirers who have sent her gifts, e-mails of encouragement and their personal cancer stories. One of her sisters marked each of the survivor stories with a big "S."
One writer referred to Roberts, who proudly talks about her Southern roots, as a "steel magnolia."
Roberts announced July 31 she had discovered
breast cancer through self-examination and follow-up
medical tests. On Aug. 3 she underwent surgery at Lenox Hill
Hospital in New York City and is presently deciding which, of many treatment options, she will follow.
In a segment titled "After the Diagnosis: Living and Dealing with Breast Cancer," Roberts interviewed her
doctor, Dr. Lauren Cassell. Cassell admitted when she walked out to the hospital waiting room to give a surgery report to the Robert's family that there were so many of the Roberts team there she wasn't sure which to report to.
Cassell and Roberts discussed the importance of returning to normal routine as soon as possible. Roberts referred to such a step as "not surviving but thriving."
Through the surgery and recovery, she remains surrounded by family. One sister, Dorothy McEwen, is a Long Beach social worker, and another, Sally-Ann Roberts, is an anchor at CBS's WWL-TV in New Orleans. Her brother, Lawrence Roberts II is a Texas teacher.
All the Roberts children talk about the values and examples set by their parents, the late Col. Lawrence Roberts Sr., who was a decorated Tuskeegee airman, and their mother, Lucimarian Roberts, a respected community leader and retired teacher who still lives on the Coast.
In Robert's recently published book, "From the "Heart: Seven Rules to Live By," the now 46-year-old former Pass Christian High School basketball star discusses those values and philosophies that carry her through life.
She has dedicated the book to her parents, "Lawrence and Lucimarian Roberts for giving their baby girl wings."
GMA's Diane Sawyer told Roberts this morning, to loud applause, that it is "so good" to have you back." Sawyer said that everyone she met told her, "We need her smile back." Robert's trademark beam, upbeat attitude and enthusiasm is credited with keeping GMA viewers returning
morning after morning.
Before she knew she had cancer, Roberts had agreed to speak at a breast cancer fund-raiser in Biloxi while on the Coast Aug. 29 for a live broadcast of the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. For two years, she has championed the rebuilding of her hometown community, still recovering from the nation's worst natural disaster.
"The Mississippi Coast is my home. Although I'd lived up north for more than 15 years working for ABC and ESPN, Pass Christian will always be home," Roberts said in a Sun Herald interview about the book.
Roberts had intended to talk about her book at a small fundraiser for the Pink Heart Fund, which sold out the first day the $100 tickets went on sale. Pink Heart Fund was started by a Coast cancer survivor in the wake of Katrina to help
cancer patients obtain wigs and prosthesis.
Now at the fundraiser, Roberts will talk about her personal recovery and her new mission: to convince Americans of the need for early
cancer detection and a good health care system available to all. She and her family have asked the public and media to respect their need for
privacy in this important time of recovery.
At the end of Monday's two-hour GMA show, Roberts shared some of the letters she'd received and held up a handkerchief from a family named Gonzalez. She said Grandpa Gonzales had laid his hand on top of the handkerchief and then all the family laid their hands on top of his.
Roberts explained that the symbolism was not the handkerchief but the "faith that it embodies that will heal." Roberts said that when she showed it to her mother, she told the family that her own her grandmother used to do that, too.
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By KAT BERGERON
kbergeron@sunherald.com