Amy Robach Reveals Breast Cancer After On-Air Exam; ABC News Correspondent To Undergo Double Mastectomy

It was an intense start of the week for ABC News correspondent Amy Robach, who announced to the world on “Good Morning America” that she has breast cancer. Robach underwent a routine mammogram live on the air last month as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And the procedure may end up saving her life. "I had been putting it off for a year, between traveling around the world for work and running around with my kids to school and ballet and gymnastics. Like so many women, I'd just kept pushing it off," she explained in a video that aired on the ABC morning show Monday.

“It’s still hard for me to say the words out loud. I have breast cancer,” Robach said. The journalist said she was hesitant about the screening. “I was a little reluctant at first. I’m 40, I’m the age, and I’ve been putting it off,” she told colleague Robin Roberts. But Roberts, a cancer survivor herself, encouraged Robach to do so. "That day, when I was asked to do something I really didn't want to do, something I had put off for more than a year, I had no way of knowing that I was in a life-or-death situation," she also wrote in a blog post Monday.

"Sitting in that kitchen with Marie Monville, I had cancer and didn't know it. In fact, I would have considered it virtually impossible that I would have cancer. I work out, I eat right, I take care of myself and I have very little family history; in fact, all of my grandparents are still alive," Robach added. As she made the announcement on the show, after the video, she sat next to Robin Roberts and explained, "I've decided to be very aggressive [...] I'll have reconstructive surgery. There's a lot you don't know until you have the surgery," Robach said on air. "I don't know about chemo. I don't know what stage I am. I don't know if it has spread. So we'll find out those things in the weeks to come."

Robach’s next step is a double mastectomy on Thursday, Nov. 14, followed by reconstructive surgery, Robach wrote on the blog post. After that, she said she'll know more about how her doctors plan to combat the disease. They did note, though, that she caught it early, telling her, "That mammogram just saved your life." In her GMA video, Robach added, "I know that I have a fight ahead of me, but I also know that I have a lot worth fighting for. And I'm so grateful that I got that mammogram that day at GMA, Robin's words still echoing inside of me, 'If I got the mammogram on air and it saved one life, then it's all worth it,' she had said. It never occurred to me that life would be mine." Robach is married to "Melrose Place" actor Andrew Shue. The couple have five children together, both from previous marriages.