Robin’s Rules of Order

A year after her breast cancer diagnosis, Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts is at the top of her game and is playing by an amended set of rules.

Shortly after Robin Roberts completed her breast cancer treatment—eight months of chemo followed by six weeks of radiation—friends urged her to write a book about the ordeal. After all, she had been so candid in discussing her diagnosis with her co-anchor, Diane Sawyer, from the couch on the Good Morning America set. Viewers had deluged her with e-mails following her surgery on August 3, 2007, and then had cheered her return to daytime TV just ten days later. Among the most dramatic milestones in her recovery was in April, when she doffed her wig to reveal the re-growth of her hair. It was a visual sign that the year she describes as “tumultuous” was over. It was time to move on.

“People begged me to write a book about cancer, “Robin says. “I refused because cancer is nothing more than a chapter in my life story. It isn’t worthy of an entire book.” She suggested a compromise. Her best-selling autobiography, From the Heart, had been released three months before her diagnosis and could easily be updated with an additional chapter. She amended the book’s subtitle, Seven Rules to Live By, to encompass an eighth rule that she calls “Make Your Mess Your Message.” From the Heart, now with its Eight Rules to Live By, is scheduled for release in October to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Expanding the book has prompted Robin to bring clarity to the year that was “a blur to me in many ways.” She recalls the mix of emotions that she felt after she discovered the lump in her breast and hurried to her doctor first for a mammogram and then an ultrasound. “I remember being angry at my body because it had betrayed me for the first time,” she says. “I felt embarrassed because I’ve always spouted off about how I eat right, stay active, don’t smoke, and take care of myself. Yet here I was with cancer.”

Her doctor convinced her that a healthy lifestyle doesn’t always prevent cancer, but it helps in the battle against the disease. “Cancer isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing,” says Robin, explaining the need to design a personal recovery plan. For her, this meant an early return to her job—long before her colleagues or fans expected to see her on the air. “I did what was best for me, which meant reestablishing my routine. I had to get back to normal as fast as I could because cancer was consuming my every thought. I’d wake up and think about it; I’d sit around the house and think about it.”

Her family rallied around her, and her mother encouraged her to become an outspoken advocate for early cancer detection. “I saw it as an opportunity to be a messenger,” says Robin. “I’m delighted to use my voice to help people navigate their way through this difficult journey. Viewers tell me that I made it look easy, but it was no cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination. Now the highest compliment that people can pay me is to tell me they’ve gone to their doctors and are getting tested.”

Anyone who doubts her words of advice needs only to compare the Robin Roberts of 2007 with the Robin Roberts of 2008. What a difference a year makes.

“Last October I was in a daze, an absolute fog,” she says. “It was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I was in the middle of chemotherapy, my hair was falling out, and I felt I was in hiding. I remember saying on the air, ‘Once you’re diagnosed, you’re a survivor!’ but I really didn’t believe it. Now, a relatively short time later, here I am. I feel good…my eyes are bright again. Yes, I’m a survivor.”