Barbara Walters revealed her own brush with breast cancer at the Breast Cancer Research Symposium and Awards luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Thursday, Oct. 9.
The 85-year-old broadcasting legend, who has never before spoken about her experience with the disease, explained she has a very personal reason for watching and supporting the advances that have been made in the fight against breast cancer.
"Some years back, I discovered a small lump in my breast," the former The View host told the audience. "I had a lumpectomy. I hadn’t talked about it. There was no reason to. There were other choices that were possible, this was mine. I told few people and I am fine, I’ve had no recurrence," she explained, calmly.
"I knew the advances that had been made in treating breast cancer, including lumpectomies when possible. I can remember when such treatments were not available," she said. "Research made my treatment possible."
Walters, who was honored at the event, shared her award with the event's host, Amy Robach, who discovered her own breast cancer during an on-air mammogram on Good Morning America.
"When [Amy] discovered she had breast cancer, she handled it in the most magnificent and wise, sensitive way," Walters said. "I think what Amy has done, and the path she has chosen, has saved the lives of many women."
Robach told Us Weekly she is feeling good now her surgery and chemotherapy treatments are behind her. "I’m feeling much, much better," she said. "I feel like I’m almost back at 100 percent. It takes a long time for your body to come back to where it was before, but I feel like I’m almost there."
Walter's, whose own sister passed away from ovarian cancer, told Us she watches developments in breast cancer research very closely.
"I’ve been coming for many years to these lunches to see the advances that have been made in the treatment of breast cancer," she said. "I can remember when it was a death sentence and was something that terrified me. And it still frightens me, but we now know that there’s treatment and we are looking forward to the day that there is a cure."
