Robin Roberts has millions of thoughts, prayers and good vibes going her way on the morning of Thursday Sept. 20.
After months of preparation (including chemotherapy), the Good Morning America anchor steeled herself for a bone marrow transplant to treat MDS, a rare blood disorder, scheduled for Thursday morning.
The beloved journalist continued to share the experience with viewers and well-wishers — including a brief video message filmed in the hospital as the procedure was about to begin.
"This journey is as much about the mind as it is the body," the 51-year-old breast cancer survivor says on camera.
She added gratefully, "Your thoughts. Thoughts are so powerful. You've got to change the way you think in order to change the way you feel. And let me just say this lastly, I feel the love and I thank you for it. Thank you."
In the hospital for 11 days so far, Roberts blogged Tuesday that she recently "threw a little party at my apartment for my GMA family.
She is also mourning the loss of her mother, Lucimarian, who passed away at age 88 in late August, and says she felt "my guardian angels — mom and dad — back together and blazing a trail ahead of me" in the hospital.
Her bone marrow donor will be her sister, Sally-Ann.
"Everything is going great," Dr. Gail Roboz, working with Roberts, said. "Medically speaking, everything is going fantastically."