Why Amy Robach's Breast Cancer Fears Prevented Her From Getting Bloodwork

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Amy Robach says fears of a breast cancer recurrence have prevented her from going into the doctor for bloodwork.

In an interview with Dr. Elizabeth Comen, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, on the Amy and T.J. Podcast, Amy shared that she was supposed to get bloodwork done in February 2023.

While she partially blamed the scandal surrounding her relationship with partner T.J. Holmes for preventing her from going to her appointment, she also cited anxiety surrounding her status as a breast cancer survivor as a factor.

"I think anyone who has survived this knows that when you go in for the blood work, it's very emotional because you're literally getting, they're looking for tumor markers is what they're looking for," Amy said on the podcast.

She went on to explain that tumor markers can indicate the cancer has returned in the bones, liver, lungs, or brain. "You would be facing then a terminal yet treatable, but ultimately a terminal cancer," she said. "And so I think the fear of that, you get into this mindset, I don't want to know. I'd rather not know."

Amy was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2013.

The former Good Morning America anchor discovered the cancer after having a live mammogram on the morning show, she shared in an essay for Women’s Health.

She discovered she had two tumors in her right breast and that the cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes.

“When (the radiologist told) me that I had a malignant tumor, that I had breast cancer, everything stopped. It was all in slow motion after that. … I did not handle it gracefully or stoically at all—I completely fell apart. I think there was a gasp. I made crazy noises—bawling, snorting,” Amy shared with CureToday. “It shook me to my core.

The news anchor had a double mastectomy and eight rounds of chemotherapy but has since recovered, she shared with WH.

Since then, she's been cancer-free, making it a special point to mark her "cancer-versary" with a series of challenges from running marathons to climbing Mount Kilamanjaro.

Now, Amy says she's trying to avoid an 'ignorance is bliss' mentality.

She shared on her podcast that while putting her blood work on the back burner made her feel "normal" and like she "never had cancer," ultimately she called that mindset "illogical and dumb."

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