Hoda Kotb Says She’s ’90 Percent Recovered And Body Confident’

Hoda Kotb, TODAY’s 4th hour co-anchor, has been free from cancer for six years now. Kotb wrote for TODAY’s Love Your Selfie series, where she opened up in detail about the trials and tribulations she faced in her fight with cancer.

She began by revealing a realization she had about surviving the disease, writing: ” I realize now: You can’t really prepare yourself for it, for how you are going to feel.”

Kotb went on to explain about an eight hour surgery she had which included a mastectomy and reconstruction. She explained that she had a hip-to-hip incision as well as more incisions on her chest, joking, “Let me tell you, it looks like a roadmap.”

Obviously, the medication, treatments and operations took their toll on Hoda Kotb, who spoke about how there was a time when she didn’t even want to look at herself.

She wrote: “I don’t care what my body looks like, I am just happy to be here. I still feel that deep in my soul every day. This is the body I have and I’ll take it.”

Continuing on a more positive vibe, Kotb went on to discuss what happened when her body started to heal and she began to feel better: “You realize that you don’t care about the scars. You are just happy to have this body, a healthy body, no matter the lumps and bumps and problems,” she said.

Although extremely grateful to have made such a remarkable recovery from her battle, Kotb explained that she now feels about 90 percent of “herself” and not 100 percent about her physical and mental state.

Going on to express her gratitude to her doctors, she continued: “I am very grateful for everything I have. I am fortunate to have had great doctors and to know that I am 6 years cancer free. I am happy about that.”

Hoda Kotb offered a frank and somewhat chilling account of her challenges with cancer in the article, also discussing the physical scars that she has and will have forever: “I still pull and tug on things I wear, like bathing suits or when I’m wearing gym clothes. The actual scars are there… that’s forever a part of me.”