BIO 2018: TV presenter Robin Roberts relives cancer battle

In 2007, Robin Roberts, co-anchor for ABC News’s Good Morning America show, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Five years later, she was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a disease of the blood and bone marrow once known as pre-leukaemia.

Her fight inspired hundreds of people to register as bone marrow donors in the US.

Yesterday, June 5, Roberts presented the keynote speech at the 2018 BIO International Convention, telling attendees her story.

“To be sitting next to Dianne Sawyer [an ABC News anchor] and telling the country and the world I had breast cancer was very chilling. Those who have faced that, the last thing you want to do is announce it to the world,” she said.

But Roberts took her mother’s advice: “Others don’t have the opportunity [to tell their story nationally], so be their voice, be their journey.”

Roberts undertook chemotherapy and radiation treatment—and the doctors had to be very aggressive in fighting the cancer. The doctors told her that, “as a black woman, you’re less likely to be diagnosed with cancer, but if you are diagnosed, you’re more likely to die from it.”

After sharing her battle against MDS with ABC’s viewers and using her story as a “teachable moment”, Roberts received the prestigious Peabody Award, for excellence in broadcasting.

“For stepping through a door that could have been closed by fear, for recognising an opportunity rather than focusing on personal danger, and for contributing to the potential for saving thousands of lives, Robin’s Journey [reports on her MDS featured on ABC] receives a Peabody Award,” said the Peabody Awards.

Roberts added that she was very appreciative of BIO’s diversity initiative. In 2017, BIO released a set of principles on workforce development, diversity, and inclusion for the biotechnology industry.

“I remember working in Atlanta, Georgia. I was doing well and a local reporter did a story on me. She referred to me as a ‘twofer’,” said Roberts, explaining that after calling her mother, she realised it meant a “double minority” of being both black and a woman.

According to Roberts, the reporter said that her ‘twofer’ status was beneficial to Roberts’ employer and, as it was a “very flattering article”, Roberts agreed with her.

The article was picked up nationally, and Roberts’ brother in law called her and said: “If other people want to say that’s the reason why [you’ve succeeded], you let them, but you know how hard you’ve worked.”

Roberts also talked about the impact of Hurricane Katrina, the category 5 hurricane that caused catastrophic damage along the US’s Gulf Coast in 2005.

During the hurricane, Roberts’ mother was in ill health and unable to evacuate so was staying with Roberts’ sister and her sister’s children.

At the time, Roberts was “venturing outside” of her comfort zone after having taken a new job and was reporting on the hurricane.

“I lost contact with my family, which often happens during hurricanes. Later in the day, we realised it was much worse than first reported.”

She was told to go to the Gulf Coast to report on the devastation and knew she had to find her family.

“We drove all night long as we could only get to Louisiana. I told my crew to set up, but that I can’t go on the air until I find my family,” she said, explaining that after speaking to her family, she went back on air.

She added that when on air, she maintained a professional demeanour, until a co-host asked about her family. “Tears started flowing, no-one shows emotion like this on TV,” said Roberts. She thought she may be fired, but “people were very grateful” to see her emotions.

Roberts concluded by going back to her story on cancer: “I was told I had a year or two to live if I didn’t have a successful bone marrow transplant. I sit here because of the work you and so many others do.”

The 2018 BIO International Convention is taking place in Boston between Monday, June 4 and Thursday, June 7.

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