Amy Robach to have double mastectomy after discovering breast cancer on air

Good Morning America‘s correspondent Amy Robach has revealed she will have a double mastectomy this week, a month after undergoing a mammogram on the show.

Amy Robach, 40, discovered she had breast cancer after reluctantly agreeing to have a screening filmed for the ABC show.

She said GMA anchor Robin Roberts had persuaded her that if the story saved one life, it would be worth it.

“It never occurred to me that life would be mine,” said Amy Robach.

Producers chose Amy Robach to cover the mammogram story because it is recommended that women at the age of 40 regularly check for breast cancer.

During Monday’s programme, and in a blog post following the show, Amy Robach said doctors had not yet determined what stage the cancer had progressed to, or whether it had spread.

The original story, which was part of the GMA Goes Pink breast cancer awareness day, featured Amy Robach emerging from her on-air mammogram, before telling colleagues that it hurt much less than she thought it would.

A few weeks later she was told she had cancer, after returning for what she thought would be some follow-up images.

Amy Robach said that her husband, actor Andrew Shue, had returned from his work trip that night and her parents had also caught a flight to New York to join her.

“We started gearing up for a fight,” she said, as she revealed that she would have both breasts removed this Thursday, followed by reconstructive surgery.

Amy Robach joined ABC in 2012 from NBC, where she was a Weekend Today host.

She frequently filled in as a presenter on ABC’s top-rated morning show GMA, while host Robin Roberts was fighting a serious blood and bone marrow disease.

Amy Robach said that with a full-time job and two children she had always found reasons to put off having a mammogram herself.

However, a doctor told her that the test had saved her life.

“I can only hope my story will inspire every woman who hears it to get a mammogram, to take a self-exam,” said Amy Robach.

“No excuses. It is the difference between life and death.”