Katie Couric revealed Wednesday that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in June.
Couric, 65, detailed the diagnosis in an extensive and personal post on her website. She noted that her doctor reminded her that she hadn’t had a mammogram since December 2020, prompting her to get one earlier in the summer. “That’s crazy, I just got one!” Couric said she told her gynecologist, adding that she is “normally vigilant, bordering on neurotic, about taking care” of her health, “especially after” her “husband Jay died of colon cancer in 1998.”
Once in the room with her technician, she was told that there was something coming up in the screening that warranted further evaluation and a biopsy, Couric recalled. The next day, Couric was informed that the breast biopsy tested positive for cancer.
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“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. My sister Emily’s pancreatic cancer, which would later kill her at 54, just as her political career was really taking off,” Couric wrote in the post. “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.” (RELATED: Country Music Star Toby Keith Reveals Stomach Cancer Diagnosis)
Couric finished her last round of radiation Tuesday and posted a photograph of herself on Instagram detailing the journey early Wednesday morning. Couric is advocating that every woman receive breast cancer screenings, sharing various posts on her website regarding trends in the disease and how to receive help.