Amy Robach marked the start of an important month on Monday with a poignant social media message and a reminder of the challenges she and many others have faced.
Taking to Instagram, Amy posted a photo of herself and the New York skyline with the Empire State Building lit up in pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
In the image she was standing on a balcony and pointing at the landmark. She looked radiant and smiled for the camera. Amy simply captioned the photo: "#breastcancerawarenessmonth @bcrfcure."
Amy, 50, is a cancer survivor herself and was diagnosed with stage two invasive breast cancer in 2013 after undergoing a mammogram live on Good Morning America.
The former ABC news anchor was 40 at the time and had never even considered the health of her breasts until her co-anchor Robin Roberts (and fellow Breast Cancer survivor) convinced her to get a mammogram.
Speaking about the moment at the 10th Annual Breast Cancer Summit, Amy said: "I wasn't planning on getting my mammogram until I was 50, because that's what the US preventive task force tells us, right?
"If you're a woman of average risk, meaning you have no family history, you should wait until you're 50. So I thought, Why would I do it in front of five million people? Seems strange.
"She [my producer] implored me to talk to Robin Roberts, my friend and colleague, and of course, a breast cancer thriver. And I went into her office and I said, Robin, they're asking me to do this live mammogram in the middle of Times Square.
© Getty Images"And she looked at me and she laughed. She goes, Oh, you're the one they picked. I was like, Right, exactly. Why me? And I explained to her that I had no connection to breast cancer whatsoever, and it just felt false."
Amy detailed more of the conversation as she continued: "And she looked at me and she said, You know what? I know exactly why you're the one who we chose because you think cancer can't happen to you, and I'm sure you're fine, but that's exactly what we're trying to explain to women, that anybody is susceptible.'
© Photo: Getty Images"And when she told me that more than 80 per cent of breast cancer patients survivors had no family history I was floored."
Amy concluded: "And she told me, ‘If you walk into that mammo van, you will save a life.’ And I remember I gave her a hug. I said, Can I hug you? Because I can't believe you just convinced me to do something that I was absolutely not going to do."
The mammogram saved Amy's life and she will forever be grateful to Robin for what she did.
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