Amy Robach explained why she has been putting off checkups after previously battling breast cancer.
During the Thursday, March 7, episode of the “Amy and T.J.” podcast, Robach, 51, admitted that she hasn’t gotten her blood work done because she is afraid of finding out that her cancer might have returned.
“I think anyone who has survived this knows that when you go in for the blood work, it’s very emotional. Because tumor markers are what they’re looking for,” Robach explained to boyfriend T.J. Holmes. “So if the cancer were to come back in the places you don’t want it to with breast cancer [such as] bones, liver, lungs, brain, you would think that you’d get a blood test that would show a tumor marker.”
Robach noted that her last blood work took place in August 2022.
“That means that you would be facing a terminal yet treatable, but ultimately a terminal cancer,” she continued. “And so I think the fear of that, you get into this mindset, I don’t want to know. I’d rather not know.”
Despite having an appointment in early 2023, Robach decided not to go. “We were going through our hell and yes, it was the last thing on my mind,” she said, referring to her and Holmes’ cheating scandal.
Robach elaborated on her fears during a conversation between Holmes and oncologist Dr. Elizabeth Comen, who works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
“It’s not going to make a difference anyway,” Robach explained of her mindset. “You start to get in that headspace, and maybe it’s an excuse just not to have to go to the doctor again or go back to the NYU cancer center again or just to avoid something that’s uncomfortable and scary.”
Robach was originally diagnosed with breast cancer after a live mammogram on Good Morning America. She had a double mastectomy and eight rounds of chemotherapy before her final round of treatment in 2014.
“Do you know what’s interesting is I preach this or I have preached this to so many women. What I’m saying right now is the same mentality a lot of women have about not getting mammograms because they don’t want to know,” Robach noted. “They don’t want to find the mass. They don’t want to know if they have cancer because that’s scary and that means it’s going to be difficult.”
Robach went on to say that she is still overcoming the “ignorance is bliss” mentality, adding, “As illogical as that is, somehow [it] becomes this human trait that I’m now experiencing because I’ve put it off. And once you keep putting it off, you’re like, ‘Oh, this feels so good to not have to make a phone call. This feels so good to not have to go get a blood test. I feel normal. I feel like I never had cancer and that’s what I want to feel.'”
Earlier in the episode, Holmes, 46, offered his perspective as Robach’s partner.
“I’ve obviously covered breast cancer. I’ve known people with breast cancer. I’m now in love with somebody who is a breast cancer survivor. But it always bothered me and it scares me, right?” he told Robach. “And all I’m hearing is that this woman I’ve gone through all this with isn’t doing all she can to make sure we have as much time together as we can.”
