Katie Couric Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Journalist and founder of Katie Couric Media, Katie Couric shared on Wednesday that she was diagnosed with stage 1A HR-positive, HER2 neutral-negative breast cancer in June 2022.

Katie Couric discussed her experiences with cancer in a 2019 interview with CURE®.

“June 21, 2022 was the first day of summer, my 8th wedding anniversary, and the day I found out I had breast cancer,” Couric, 65, wrote on her website.

Couric explained that receiving the “heart-stopping” news made her think of her family’s prior cancer history: her husband, Jay, died of colon cancer; her sister died of pancreatic cancer; and her mother-in-law died of ovarian cancer.

Additionally, Couric’s mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, her father survived prostate cancer and her current husband, John, “had a tumor the size of a coconut on his liver, which was surgically removed just a few months before we got married.”

“My mood quickly shifted from disbelief to resignation,” Couric wrote. “Given

my family’s history of cancer, why would I be spared? My reaction went from ‘Why me?’ to ‘Why not me?’”

Couric said she was treated by Dr. Lisa Newman at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, who told her that the disease is highly treatable.

On July 14, Couric underwent a breast-conserving lumpectomy, followed by radiation and treatment with an aromatase inhibitor, a class of drugs that works by lowering estrogen levels.

After her husband’s death from colon cancer, Couric became an advocate for regular colonoscopies, even going so far as to getting one on the “TODAY” show. And now, she is urging people to undergo their annual mammograms, too.

READ MORE: Caregiver, Survivor and Advocate: Katie Couric

“Please get your annual mammogram,” she wrote. “I was six months late this time. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had put it off longer. But just as importantly, please find out if you need additional screening.”

Couric also mentioned that during the month of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she and her team at Katie Couric Media will be covering “every aspect of breast cancer,” including diagnostic tools, treatments, prevention strategies and first-person accounts.

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