Robin Roberts sends viewers a video message from hospital before bone marrow transplant
Going the extra mile to keep her fans up to date on her medical status in the hours leading up to her bone marrow transplant, “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts taped a video message to viewers from her hospital room, which aired during the morning news show’s Thursday broadcast.
“This journey is as much about the mind as it is about the body. Good thoughts. Thoughts are so powerful. You’ve got to change the way you think in order to change the way you feel,” Roberts said while sitting in her hospital bed, reiterating: “You have 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.”
The likable Roberts, a former college basketball star and sportscaster, has become a fan favorite during her seven years as a “GMA” co-anchor, thanks in part her warm personality and sunny disposition, traits she’s kept up in the face of a tumultuous year. In June, the 52-year-old – who is already a breast cancer survivor – announced that she had been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (also known as MDS), a rare blood and bone-marrow disorder. At the time she also explained that her sister, Sally-Ann Roberts, would be the donor in her upcoming bone marrow transplant. On August 30, Roberts began her planned medical leave a day early in order to fly to Mississippi to be with her 88-year-old mother, whose health had taken a turn for the worse. Roberts’ mother, Lucimarian Tolliver Roberts, died later that day, after Roberts and her sister had arrived.
According to ABC News, the transplant itself will take between 30 and 60 minutes, and afterwards Roberts will be kept in a special room designed to keep the air as clean as possible, though some medical staff and family and friends will be allowed to visit. It is unclear at this point how long Roberts will have to remain in the hospital, but according to Roberts’ doctor, Gail Roboz, M.D., recovery markers can usually be seen within 30 to 100 days after surgery.
“Thirty days gets us to [where] we hope that we see nice, normal blood counts,” Dr. Roboz told ABC News. “We hope that we can stop supporting her with things through the IV because her systems are up and running, but it still doesn’t mean she feels like Robin again.”
Hopefully, knowing Roberts’ history, she’ll feel like Robin again soon.
"Bottom line, I am going to beat this," she said on "GMA" in June. "My doctors say it, my faith says it to me ... It's about focusing on the fight and not the fright.
"
More Celebrity Features on Yahoo!:
