Diane Sawyer and Richard Besser…my early guiding lights on this journey. You both made me truly believe that this, too, shall pass.
I know it was not only my medical team who saved me but all the prayer lists I was blessed to be placed on. From Apple Springs Baptist Church in Texas to First Presbyterian in Hartford, Connecticut, to Old Town Presbyterian in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. I’ve never adequately been able to express what everyone’s prayers around the world have meant to me. I truly felt them all, and I return them to you hundredfold.
I’m grateful for the connection I have with people, especially those who watch GMA every morning. Often someone will say: “You know, Robin, we could be best friends.” And I feel that way, too. If I lived in your town, we’d probably hang out, have lunch. I’d like that. I never take for granted that you invite me into your homes every morning. Thank you.
I’m grateful to everyone at N. S. Bienstock for your guidance and friendship. Peter, Paul, Richard, Carole, Jonathan, Janine…I’m energized every time I’m in your presence. You make me believe that anything is possible in my career and in my life.
I found out this past year that my apartment building in NYC is more like a neighborhood. Appreciate the notes slipped under my door, the offers to walk KJ and the best building staff in the city. To my longtime neighbors in Farmington, Connecticut, the Picorillo family, thanks for bringing in my trash cans from the curb when I’m not at home. I wouldn’t be able to keep my home there were it not for my longtime personal assistant, Pam Guglielmino. Don’t know how you do it, Pam. Nothing is too small or too big for you to tackle, all while raising four beautiful children.
Even though I’ve lived on the East Coast for almost twenty-five years, I will always be a Southern girl and the Pass will always be my home. My thanks to the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast for embracing the Roberts family. We love y’all right back.
My friends at the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Like Jimmy V said, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” And my new friends at Be the Match. You truly have helped me make my mess my message.
When it comes to ESPN and ABC/GMA…I need a second volume to thank everyone. Bob Iger, Anne Sweeney, George Bodenheimer, John Skipper, John A. Walsh, Ben Sherwood, Tom Cibrowski, James Goldston…and if I start naming all the anchors and correspondents who are dear friends, as Momma would say, “Oh, mercy!”
My fellow GMA anchors: George, Josh, Lara…you along with Sam had my back and I have yours. You make getting up at 3:45 a.m. an absolute joy because I know I get to spend my mornings with you. The entire GMA staff/family is second to none. The original #TeamRobin: Emily, Sonny, Karen, Elena, Petula, Diandre, Sharde…I love you all.
Before I thank my inner circle, a nod to Amber’s: Crystal, Stephen, Todd, Alex, Bret, Sloan, Alana, Alan and Kalid. You took care of your girl so she could take care of hers.
To my second family: Jo, Kim, Lois Ann, Cathy, Jel, Scarlett, Linda, Julie, Bugs, Nancy, Denise, Carol, Beth, Sandy. There’s a toast I like to say: “To friends who are family and to family who are friends.”
It’s one thing to love your family but to actually like them is simply priceless. Butch, Sally-Ann, Dorothy…you are the greatest gifts Mom and Dad ever gave me. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, with all your children and grandchildren and—can’t believe I’m saying this—great-grandchildren. Ron and Cynthia, you are the perfect fit for our family.
Amber, thank you for giving me your blessing to share what you mean to me and to my family. You shy away from the spotlight, but I’m proud that many now know what I’ve always known…you are a phenomenal, beautiful woman in every way. Bless you for selflessly being the wind beneath my wings.
Thank you, Momma, thank you, Daddy, for GIVING me wings and encouraging me to fly high. I miss you both so much. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about you. I draw upon the lessons you lovingly taught me about faith, family and friends. You taught me to be true to myself. Momma, I remember what you said, “God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.” As always, Momma, you get the last word.
Photos
My parents at a formal military event. I remember anxiously waiting for them at home to hear all about their night.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
My daddy could always make me smile.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
Who knew this little six-year-old would grow up to be a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts?
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
Such a treat when Mom and Dad came to visit me in New York. Loved our dinners together.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
With my dad in Tuskegee, Alabama, before I flew a plane like he did with the Tuskegee Airmen, November 2003.
JAMIE MARTIN/ABC
Momma had a great time on the set of The View, May 2012.
DIANDRE TRISTAN
Special to have Mom’s oldest friend, Mrs. Middleton, at Momma’s homegoing, Pass Christian, Mississippi, September 2012.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
My siblings and I are proud to attend events honoring our father and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen, D’Iberville, Mississippi, November 2013.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
On the GMA set in 2005 with fellow co-anchors Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer. What a privilege to learn from the best.
IDA MAE ASTUTE/ABC
Dancing always lifts my spirits. Getting my groove on with Lara Spencer and Tom Cibrowski.
IDA MAE ASTUTE/ABC
April 19, 2012: Sam, Josh, Lara, George and me celebrating GMA becoming #1. Later this same day I received my MDS diagnosis.
FRED LEE/ABC
Celebrating with Sam at the GMA rooftop victory party, April 19, 2012.
DIANDRE TRISTAN
Diane and Sally-Ann after I made my MDS diagnosis public on GMA, June 11, 2012.
IDA MAE ASTUTE/ABC
With friends and colleagues in my apartment at the rager I threw the night before I was admitted into the hospital, September 9, 2012.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
So happy when I was finally able to eat again several days after the transplant. Soup’s on!
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
My sisters got a big kick out of seeing my dear friends Deborah Roberts and Gayle King.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
Brightened my day when Sam and Josh came to visit me. I still wear the froggy slippers at home.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
Jo and Kim made several trips from Maine to see me in the hospital.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
When I could, I did yoga in the hospital. namaste.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
Saying good-bye and thank you to the nurses and staff at MSKCC before heading home after thirty days. There is no I in TEAM.
COURTESY MSKCC
This was all I could think about when I was in the hospital for a month. Home sweet home, October 9, 2013.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
Hearing Mandisa sing “Stronger” on GMA brought Dorothy to tears.
HEIDI GUTMAN/ABC
Michael Strahan feeding me birthday cake on the one-year anniversary of my transplant, September 20, 2013.
IDA MAE ASTUTE/ABC
My trusty assistant, Sonny Mullen, at my one-year “birthday” party, September 20, 2013.
IDA MAE ASTUTE/ABC
September 20, 2013: pointing skyward like sister Sally. Thank you, Lord!
IDA MAE ASTUTE/ABC
Visiting Pat Summitt at her home in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her dogs are never far from her side.
JON LEMAY/ABC
One of the highlights of returning to GMA, singing the song I co-wrote with India Arie. It certainly was “A Beautiful Day.”
IDA MAE ASTUTE/ABC
Amber and I headed to my fiftieth birthd
ay celebration in Turks and Caicos, November 2010.
LOIS ANN PORTER
Maui, August 2013, with the friends who loved me through it: (front row) Beth, Carol, Linda, Scarlett; (second row) Cathy, me, Jo; (last row) Julie, Kim, Lois Ann, Amber.
CAROL STIFF
Amber with her beloved Frances just days before she went to doggy heaven, November 2013.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
Couldn’t take my eyes off of KJ when she finally returned home on my one hundredth day from transplant, December 29, 2012.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
Thankful to be back at the Oscars in 2013 wearing a Marc Bouwer gown.
RICK ROWELL/ABC
With King James backstage at the ESPYs after being presented the Arthur Ashe Award, Los Angeles, California, July 2013.
SCOTT CLARKE/ESPN
Sally-Ann and I are always humbled when organizations honor us, Los Angeles, California, October 2013.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
What a thrill to take to the sky in a P-51 like Daddy, Los Angeles, California, July 2013.
ROBIN ROBERTS PERSONAL COLLECTION
I’m always at peace when I’m surrounded by water.
LOIS ANN PORTER
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
: Before We Begin
Chapter 1: The Oscars
Chapter 2: Snowballs
Chapter 3: MD Say Whaaat?
Chapter 4: #1
Chapter 5: Celebrate the Now
Chapter 6: Letting People In
Chapter 7: I Want to Live
Chapter 8: Me & Diane
Chapter 9: Finding My Match
Chapter 10: A Meeting with the President
Chapter 11: Tea & Sympathy
Chapter 12: Knox-Vegas
Chapter 13: Breaking the News
Chapter 14: Assembling My Team
Chapter 15: Eyes on the Prize
Chapter 16: Venice
Chapter 17: Mom
Chapter 18: A Lake House
Chapter 19: Roshanda
Chapter 20: The Rabbit
Chapter 21: Keep It Boring
Chapter 22: Fourteen Laps a Day
Chapter 23: Home
Chapter 24: Everybody’s Got Something to Give
Chapter 25: Setbacks and Comebacks
Chapter 26: 100 Days
Chapter 27: Good Morning America
Chapter 28: Back in the Game
Chapter 29: Noncompliant
Chapter 30: Taking the Stage
Chapter 31: Still Freakin’ Blessed
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Photos
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by Robin Roberts
Cover design by Anne Twomey
Cover photograph by Nigel Parry/CPi Syndication
Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: April 2014
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
“Stronger” by Ben Glover, Chris Stevens, David Garcia
Copyright © 2011 Regisfunk Music (BMI) 9t One Songs (ASCAP) Ariose Music (ASCAP) Universal Music–Brentwood Benson Publ. (ASCAP) D Soul Music (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Patient Education: Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation copyright © 2011 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Returning Home After Your Allogeneic Transplant copyright © 2011 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
ISBN 978-1-4555-7843-6
E3
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