Amy Robach is trying to keep control of her hair during her battle with breast cancer and debuted a short cut on Wednesday’s Good Morning America .
For the 40-year-old this has been a trying time and cutting her hair short was not an easy decision.
“I am taking control of something that I have very little control of,” Robach said in a video she recorded before the cut.
An emotional Amy Robach said:
“I am going to cut my hair very short, I’ve never done this before (…) I want to say I had something to do with how I look, not the cancer.”
“It sounds shallow I know, but it was a very scary image to me. Having cancer is one thing, LOOKING like you have cancer is another thing.”
In a post on her blog, Amy Robach admits one of her first questions was about losing her hair –which was shoulder length — during the scheduled eight rounds of chemo her doctors have recommended. So far she has done two rounds.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer following an on-air mammogram in October of 2013.
Initially she resisted her boss’ idea to do the piece for Breast Cancer Awareness month, but considering she had just turned 40-years-old — the age when women are supposed to start having mammograms — she agreed and later credited her colleagues for saving her life.
Amy Robach chose to undergo a double mastectomy in November, where doctors discovered a previously undetected tumor in her other breast. She began her chemotherapy on December 16, 2013.
Even though it was an obviously emotional experience, Amy Robach said she wanted to share the video with other women that may fear losing their hair during cancer treatments:
“I wanted other women to know they are not alone. I wanted my sisters to know that being brave is the only way to live with cancer (…) and today I feel powerful.”
Following the mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, doctors told the mother of two that the mammogram saved her life.
“I can only hope my story will do the same and inspire every woman who hears it to get a mammogram, to take a self-exam,” Amy Robach wrote on her blog. “No excuses. It is the difference between life and death.”
