All Topics → Forum: Biographies and Inspiring Stories → Topic: GMA's Robin Roberts
Posted on: Feb 14, 2012 03:19 AM
Eileenohio wrote:
Watching GMA this morning. Gosh Robin Roberts looks great. I know she had chemo for early stage BC but I was wondering if anyone knows the exact details. Why did she need chemo for early BC ?
Thanks
Posts 1 - 21 (21 total)
Feb 14, 2012 03:22 AM BelaT wrote:
I want to know too. I searched but never found anything
Feb 14, 2012 03:32 AM carpediem1965 wrote:
Here is are good articles:
www.prevention.com/health/heal...
abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCallPlusBreastCancerNews/story?id=4141823&page=1#.Tzpv8sj4WSo
She had 6 weeks of radiation and 8 chemo treatments over 8 months, the cancer was triple negative. Maybe that's why?
Feb 14, 2012 03:50 AM Leah_S wrote:
I haven't read the articles, but I do know that Stage II is considered early stage. Most oncs recommend chemo for Stage II.
Leah
Feb 14, 2012 03:57 AM lago wrote:
Early stage goes all the way to some levels of stage III. Stage I many times has chemo recommended. Treatment is not only based on stage but biology of the tumor, age, lymph node status, health of the patient etc. Its complicated.
Feb 14, 2012 04:07 AM SpecialK wrote:
She had triple negative BC - surgery, chemo and radiation are the only tools available, she can't take Tamoxifen or an AI, it has to be treated aggressively.
Feb 14, 2012 04:10 AM BelaT wrote:
wonder what cocktails she had and where did she go
Feb 14, 2012 04:20 AM jacee wrote:
I know she says she had 8 months of chemo, and she mentions having Adriamyacin. Followed by 5 weeks of rads.
Feb 14, 2012 09:02 AM LRM216 wrote:
Yes, she is triple negative, and that is the gold standard of treatment for those of us that are, no matter what whether State 1, II or III. I was Stage 1 and I went through, surgery, 5 months of DD A/C and 4 rounds of Taxol (was switched from Taxol to Taxotere after first round), followed by 33 rads. I wish she would speak of her cancer more often as she could be such an excellent spokesperson for us Triple Negs, but all she will do is ocassionally admit she had breast cancer - never gives any more info than that. It's too bad, with her being in the public eye and all, I find that disappointing. She had her treatments at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC, and as far as I know, she is still going there.
Feb 14, 2012 09:07 AM BelaT wrote:
5 months of AC? DD ? I am thinking its a lot. I wish she would talk more too.
Feb 14, 2012 09:10 AM kathleen1966 wrote:
Yes, I love her. I wish she would talk about it more. I think it was a serious invasive cancer. I don't know if it went to nodes.
Feb 14, 2012 09:29 AM, edited Feb 14, 2012 09:32 AM by AnnNYC
I know she was triple negative, and one of her chemos was the "red devil" (adriamycin, right?) because I saw her talk about it on GMA in 2007-2008. I know exactly where she went, because she's had her onc* on GMA also, and showed scenes from the chemo suite there. Don't know if any of these clips are still available on GMA, but they were in 2008.
*Her onc = Ruth Oratz, who's also on the medical advisory board here at BCO.
Edit to add: LRM216, I don't believe she had treatments at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. She had her initial surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital (maybe that surgeon was also affiliated with MSKCC?), and her med onc for chemo was Dr. Oratz, who is affiliated with NYU but provides chemo in her private offices.
Feb 14, 2012 09:37 AM SpecialK wrote:
According to her bio she did 8 chemo treatments, not 8 months of chemo. She had surgery in August of '07, and had completed chemo in January of '08. She moved on to rads which was done in March of '08.
Feb 14, 2012 09:37 AM BelaT wrote:
She is not prt of sloan kettering.
Feb 14, 2012 09:42 AM AnnNYC wrote:
Here's a link to her "last day of chemo" story -- I can't see a video clip on my browser, but the whole clip is transcribed on this page:
abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCallPlusB...
(same link CarpeDiem provided above)
Feb 14, 2012 09:57 AM Eileenohio wrote:
Thanks everyone. Wow she had 8 chemo treatments. She did work during her treatment so apparently her side effects were manageable. She is an inspiration,I too wish she would give more details.
Feb 14, 2012 10:00 AM, edited Feb 14, 2012 10:02 AM by SpecialK
eileen - most likely two different chemos - Adriamycin/Cytoxan for 4 rounds, then 4 of a taxane. An aggressive approach, but she was triple negative and this would be a pretty standard treatment for that.
She does speak, I believe, because I think she came to a BC/Ovarian cancer conference here in Tampa a few years ago that is sponsored by Moffitt Cancer Center. She was the keynote speaker during the luncheon.
Feb 14, 2012 12:37 PM jacee wrote:
She says she did 8 chemo treatments over 8 months. Just doesn't say the combination.
Feb 14, 2012 12:44 PM Patty252555140415 wrote:
I also wish Robin and the other public figures, Olivia Newton John, Kate Jackson, Jacklyn Smith, Cheryl Crow just to name a few would speak out bout their tx , stage etc. How can we ask them to do this???
Feb 14, 2012 12:50 PM jacee wrote:
I'm finding some women (2 friends of mine) don't even know their cancer characteristics They've gone through tx and recon and still don't know so much about their cancer, or what drugs they were given. I know I drive them crazy with all my questions...and always spewing out information. So hard for me to imagine, but to me, knowledge is power. For them, not so much. So, I wonder how many of those women who are public figures even know???
Feb 14, 2012 01:01 PM, edited Feb 14, 2012 01:01 PM by lrr4993
I am sure they know the details. These are smart women. I am sure they just prefer to keep the details private. I am the same way. Being a public figure does not destroy your right to privacy.
Mar 30, 2012 10:16 AM financegirl wrote:
I read her book after I was diagnosed. I think (can't swear) that she had ACT. I know for a fact she had adriamycin b/c I remember her saying that the doctors told her that little hanging red bag would be the one that took her hair and she'd pee orangey red. Also remember her saying that on her last chemo day the nurses surrounded her and they blew bubbles for her "graduation".