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Speaker 1: Hey, it is Thursday, October thirtieth, twenty twenty five, and

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Speaker 1: we had damn good reason to pop open a bottle

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Speaker 1: of champagne at four am as we were starting our

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Speaker 1: work day. And with that, welcome to this very special

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Speaker 1: cancer Versary episode of Amy and TJ.

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Speaker 2: Amy Robot. Please tell the folks what is a cancer versary?

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Speaker 3: First of all, well, it's the day that cancer patients,

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Speaker 3: survivors thrivers celebrate their anniversary of surviving. And so I

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Speaker 3: actually had a question early on because a lot of

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Speaker 3: folks choose different dates for their cancerversary. Some people pick

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Speaker 3: the day they finished chemo, some people picked the day

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Speaker 3: they finished their surgeries or their treatment, and some people

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Speaker 3: picked the day they were diagnosed. And I went with

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Speaker 3: that way forward because someone said this to me, a

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Speaker 3: survivor said this to me. I chose the day I

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Speaker 3: was diagnosed because that's the day I started surviving.

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Speaker 2: And what day did you pick?

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Speaker 4: October thirtieth? The day I was diagnosed.

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Speaker 2: The day you were diagnosed was October thirtieth, this day

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Speaker 2: twelve years ago? Is that right?

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Speaker 4: That's correct?

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Speaker 2: Happy Canniverse cancer versary, baby.

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Speaker 4: Thank you.

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Speaker 3: It's one of those days where, yeah, it's impossible not

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Speaker 3: to get emotional.

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Speaker 2: Are you supposed to? Is it offensive? How should people

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Speaker 2: note or take or recognize the day to you? Because

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Speaker 2: it seems weird to say happy happy cancer version right?

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Speaker 3: No, I actually really believe that it's important to celebrate.

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Speaker 3: It's important as a moment to recognize how precious time is,

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Speaker 3: how amazing it is that we're all here still one

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Speaker 3: more day, one more minute, one more hour.

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Speaker 2: You have to know that. Though does it matter? Do

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Speaker 2: you have? Can? Can the day come and go without

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Speaker 2: excuse me? You can note it in your own mind,

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Speaker 2: but does it need to be to you appreciate people

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Speaker 2: taking note of it? Almost like a birthday. I know

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Speaker 2: that's a weird comparison, but some people don't like birthday.

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Speaker 2: I don't want all its attention and no, and I

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Speaker 2: don't want to pick where we're going and that kind

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Speaker 2: of shit. Do you think?

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Speaker 3: I think have to's and expectations are problematic period, so

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't expect anyone else to. However, I have been

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Speaker 3: a believer in honoring, in noting, in acknowledging certain anniversaries

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Speaker 3: because I do think they do serve as a very

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Speaker 3: important reminder for us to remember what's important to appreciate,

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Speaker 3: to be grateful, and to spread the love. And I

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Speaker 3: think at that point it's on me to recognize it.

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Speaker 3: It's on me to recognize how to be living differently

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Speaker 3: and better.

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Speaker 2: But how is the day different from any other in

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Speaker 2: that what you just said, is it? You said a reminder?

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Speaker 2: But at the same time we get reminders from We

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Speaker 2: were just talking about Tony Todd in the Last Final

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Speaker 2: Destination movie. He he gave us a reminder with come

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Speaker 2: of lines that life is precious and we have to

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Speaker 2: live every day. Sometimes we have a family member, somebody,

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Speaker 2: a friend, or somebody close to us that's passed unexpectedly,

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Speaker 2: and we always say it's a reminder. But for a

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Speaker 2: cancer survivor, you still need sometimes these reminds. I'm sure

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Speaker 2: you are more aware than most people are of your mortality,

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Speaker 2: if you will, But still is it even for you?

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Speaker 2: Sometimes you find yourself needing reminders more than even you

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Speaker 2: think you should need.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we all and I think as more

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Speaker 3: time goes by, which is a beautiful thing.

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Speaker 4: Oh my goodness.

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Speaker 3: I used to think about cancer every minute of every day.

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Speaker 3: Then it became, you know, a couple times a day,

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Speaker 3: then it solely became a couple of times a week,

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Speaker 3: and now I can go weeks without thinking about cancer,

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Speaker 3: and that's a beautiful thing. No one wants to be

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Speaker 3: dwelling on or in this like disease. However, there is

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Speaker 3: a really positive point when you can have that moment

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Speaker 3: where it comes back to you like wait a minute,

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Speaker 3: When things are going bad, or things are going wrong,

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Speaker 3: or you're getting frustrated by little stupid, silly stuff that

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Speaker 3: you won't remember in five days, let alone five years.

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Speaker 3: Those are the moments where're like, wait a minute, like

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Speaker 3: perspective here, it's all going to be okay.

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Speaker 2: Put on perspective there, You're you're not I guess you

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Speaker 2: kind of change, change or train yourself. You're not in

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Speaker 2: that moment thinking about cancer, but you're in that moment

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Speaker 2: still thinking. Your mind is trained differently. Is that Is

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Speaker 2: that fair to say you're not just thinking cancer.

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Speaker 4: No, I'm thinking gratitude.

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Speaker 3: I'm thinking I'm thinking especially like honestly, baby, if you

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Speaker 3: and I and we haven't had a lot of this lately,

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Speaker 3: which has been awesome, but if you and I are

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Speaker 3: having a rough spot or a rough patch, or I

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Speaker 3: actually get frustrated with myself for not finding a way

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Speaker 3: to peace sooner, because I'm just like, we don't have

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Speaker 3: six hours, we don't have six days. We don't know

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Speaker 3: why am I wasting time being pissed off about something

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Speaker 3: that actually doesn't even matter.

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Speaker 4: It's my ego, it's my pride, it's.

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Speaker 3: Whatever, And so yes, I use those moments to remind

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Speaker 3: myself of how precious time is. That is the biggest reminder,

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Speaker 3: I think, And to remember to love people, to laugh more,

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Speaker 3: to live more, to love more. Those are the things

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Speaker 3: that hit my brain. It's not cancer, it's it's you

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Speaker 3: have right now.

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Speaker 2: But that's all a matter of you being trained, I

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Speaker 2: guess the past twelve years to see life differently and

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Speaker 2: recognize life differently. But when did it happen? I know

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Speaker 2: you won't know what exactly, Maybe you will. When did

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Speaker 2: that transition kind of start to where it's not cancer, cancer, cancer,

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Speaker 2: cancer cancer, but just a matter of looking at life

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Speaker 2: as a more beautiful thing.

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Speaker 3: It definitely when the fear subsided, and the fear didn't

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Speaker 3: subside I think for a solid two years from my diagnosis,

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Speaker 3: so it it took a full two years for me

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Speaker 3: to just not be actually living in fear and then

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Speaker 3: oh yeah, I mean I was well, and I'm not

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Speaker 3: saying I didn't have moments of fear just come washing

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Speaker 3: over me unexpectedly in certain moments, but the day to

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Speaker 3: day fear started to subside after that period. And then

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Speaker 3: it really it was baby steps and it was conditioning,

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Speaker 3: and it was taking that fear and trying to flip

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Speaker 3: it on its head and say it's powerful.

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Speaker 4: Right when you are afraid, there.

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Speaker 3: Is There aren't a lot of emotions that are more

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Speaker 3: powerful than fear. And so when I could take it

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Speaker 3: and say, okay, i'm feeling this now, I'm going to

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Speaker 3: go do something fun, I'm going to go do something meaningful.

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Speaker 4: I'm going to go do something impactful.

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Speaker 3: And so when I start to feel that anxiety, which

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Speaker 3: it still does pop up, I don't.

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Speaker 4: Think it ever goes away. Fully, it doesn't.

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Speaker 3: It hasn't for me yet, and honestly, I kind of

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Speaker 3: hope it doesn't, because it's become motivating to live differently,

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Speaker 3: to make different choices, to make better choices in moments

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Speaker 3: where more other fears come up, and I'm just like,

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Speaker 3: wait a minute, I know how to do this. I'm

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Speaker 3: going to take this and I'm going to use this

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Speaker 3: for good.

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Speaker 2: When did you start making cancer jokes?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 4: Throughout?

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Speaker 3: Like, oh yeah, when I was going through chemo, I

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Speaker 3: was making cancer jokes because you just had to.

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Speaker 4: It was so miserable.

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Speaker 3: And even the girls were younger, they were seven and

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Speaker 3: ten when all of this was happening, and they we

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Speaker 3: would actually joke about it in moments.

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Speaker 4: Of like stupid, like every day stress, we would make

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Speaker 4: a joke about how ridiculous it was.

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Speaker 2: Well for you in the milestone moments you talk about

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Speaker 2: cancer versary. What are the other dates on the yearly

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Speaker 2: calendar that are anniversaries if you will?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, October thirtieth was the day I was diagnosed.

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Speaker 3: December sixteenth was my first day of chemo. April twenty

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Speaker 3: fourth was my last day of chemo. I mean you

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Speaker 3: really remember these dates. I don't think they ever go away.

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Speaker 3: And those are like my main ones, because chemo is

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Speaker 3: one of those things where it is an event and

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Speaker 3: it does take away a lot from you throughout that moment,

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Speaker 3: and I am very proud of going through that, having

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Speaker 3: gone through that, and I do like laugh and look

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Speaker 3: back at how much pride I took in not taking

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Speaker 3: any days off. Yes, I took days off from my

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Speaker 3: double mistectomy. I took I believe two weeks off and

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Speaker 3: that was it. And then I never missed another day

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Speaker 3: of work. And I look back at that and I

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Speaker 3: laugh at the pride I took in that. Why, like

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Speaker 3: I invested all this time in a job that I

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Speaker 3: thought defined me. That was my value and it's part

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Speaker 3: of the reason why. And I think it's important to

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Speaker 3: have something to focus on other than being a cancer

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Speaker 3: patient in those moments when you're in treatment. However, the

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Speaker 3: emphasis I had was on making sure I showed up

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Speaker 3: for work every day. And I look back at now

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Speaker 3: the last couple of years and laugh at my devotion

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Speaker 3: and my loyalty to a job that actually gave nothing

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Speaker 3: in return.

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Speaker 2: But I mean another way possibly looking at it, is

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Speaker 2: that was a very much a positive. It kept you focused,

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Speaker 2: It kept you driven, It kept you you had a

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Speaker 2: goal and something to deal with pressurize even not just

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Speaker 2: like doing a crossword puzzle. You had a real purpose

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Speaker 2: and focus in life. Is there not some argument that

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Speaker 2: even some doctor would make that that was good for you.

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Speaker 3: Yes, And even to that point, my doctor at the time,

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Speaker 3: doctor Oratz who you've met multiple times.

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Speaker 4: I had this focus.

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Speaker 3: The first meeting I had with my oncologist, the first

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Speaker 3: thing I said to her was how can I still

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Speaker 3: go and cover the Olympics in Pyeongchang in South Korea.

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Speaker 3: I had already signed up for it, I was already

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Speaker 3: accredited for it, and I wanted to go.

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Speaker 4: That was where my head was. I needed to have.

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Speaker 3: Some goal other than ringing the bell, some goal other

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Speaker 3: than getting through chemo. I needed to shift my focus.

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Speaker 3: And so yes, in that sense, it was a blessing. However,

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Speaker 3: upon further reflection, looking back now, I am now able

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Speaker 3: to proudly say that my work, and it's with someone

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Speaker 3: I love now in a different way, in a different place,

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Speaker 3: in a different atmosphere, is integal to my life, but

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Speaker 3: doesn't define me in a way that it did back then.

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Speaker 3: And I understand that I needed that maybe that distraction.

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Speaker 3: But I have a better focus now on what's important.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's I don't know. I don't know if

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Speaker 2: it's possible to get to that perspective before you have

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Speaker 2: a life altering and a literally a life threatening situation

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Speaker 2: come up. That's always the challenge, right You're trying to

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Speaker 2: get to that perspective before it's forced upon you. You are.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I guess I get it to a certain degree.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know if it's a bad thing,

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Speaker 2: and looking back on it, if your perspective was wrong,

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Speaker 2: I think a lot of people would be that way.

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Speaker 2: Think that way. You have a career, you have a family,

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Speaker 2: and look, I think this industry probably, I think the

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Speaker 2: industry puts you in that position as well. Where you

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Speaker 2: were at the time. I know you still had a

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Speaker 2: little climbing to do as far as the industry goes.

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Speaker 2: But we take one day off and we think the

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Speaker 2: person that gets to fill in for us is going

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Speaker 2: to end up taking our job. It's just been this

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Speaker 2: kind of competitive business forever. So I don't know if

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Speaker 2: you would have been in a different industry had you

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Speaker 2: had the same attitude. I don't know if you would have,

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Speaker 2: if you'd had the right support that you should have

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Speaker 2: had at the time, if you would have had that

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Speaker 2: same attitude. But here we are. It all worked out.

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Speaker 2: And the reason I know it worked out is because

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Speaker 2: I'm sitting across the table from you right now, happy

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Speaker 2: and healthy and life is great. So it worked out.

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Speaker 3: It absolutely did, and it was funny to think that

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Speaker 3: in the middle of all of that. So I remember

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Speaker 3: after round five of chemo, my on collegist told me,

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Speaker 3: you know, you're going to have to I know you

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Speaker 3: haven't taken any breaks from work, but you're going to

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Speaker 3: have to start taking a break because when I came

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Speaker 3: back from the Olympics, we upped the chemo to every

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Speaker 3: other week, and so she was like, there's no way

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Speaker 3: you're going to be able to keep continuing with this

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Speaker 3: five day week schedule. That is when I got the

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Speaker 3: phone call from then ABC president Ben Suurrwood saying, You've

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Speaker 3: now been given the Monday through Friday news anchor job.

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Speaker 3: And I knew at that moment that, of course I

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Speaker 3: was not going to take another day off. So I

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Speaker 3: thought my career was taking a huge shift upwards right

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Speaker 3: when I was taking a huge shift downwards in my

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Speaker 3: energy level and my treatment, and the two coincided, and

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Speaker 3: you know, you do what you have to do. You

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Speaker 3: rise up to that point and you meet the expectations

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Speaker 3: that are in front of you. And maybe that was

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Speaker 3: exactly what needed to happen at what I thought was

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Speaker 3: the worst possible time, but it gave me. It gave

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Speaker 3: me an outlet. It gave me something to do other

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Speaker 3: than being a cancer patient, and for that I'm grateful.

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Speaker 2: Well, folks, we are absolutely grateful for today. I think

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Speaker 2: a lot of you will know. We get up really

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Speaker 2: really early, really really early to get our work done.

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Speaker 2: But today our work day started a little differently. Stay here,

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Speaker 2: I'll explain to you exactly what happened when Robes rolled

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Speaker 2: out of bed on her cancer versary this morning. Hey,

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Speaker 2: the folks, welcome back to this very special cancer versary

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Speaker 2: episode of Amy and TJ. Twelve years ago today, Amy

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Speaker 2: Robock found out that she had stage two two breast cancer.

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Speaker 2: And here we are, twelve years later, cancer free, doing

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Speaker 2: a thing, rocking, rolling. She's got a great career going.

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Speaker 2: She has a great, great coworker that she gets to

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Speaker 2: spend her time with every single day.

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Speaker 3: She's also my fiance. Now, okay, we'll trying to keep

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Speaker 3: it before we very often.

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Speaker 2: I have a lot because anything to keep from saying

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Speaker 2: girlfriend again, I.

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Speaker 3: Actually want to lean towards a husband. It's so funny.

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Speaker 3: I'm like fiance, I'm fifty two years.

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Speaker 2: Lean away from the girl friend. Beyonce, Yes, well you

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Speaker 2: had a boyfriend it's better than a boyfriend. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 2: so you're getting there. But folks today, well especially we

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Speaker 2: tell you all all the time. We get very early

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Speaker 2: around here, between three or four o'clock in the morning.

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Speaker 3: And.

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Speaker 2: Well, Robes, I will let you tell it. I had

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Speaker 2: a whole plan and whole thing in mind about what

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Speaker 2: the day was going to look like. And we have

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Speaker 2: much more the day to go. But I wanted to

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Speaker 2: make sure when you walked out, you knew well you were,

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Speaker 2: you were aware that I was aware.

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Speaker 4: I would say, very sweet. I walked out, and.

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Speaker 3: I walk out at about four ten, because my alarm

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Speaker 3: goes off at four. I go into the Yeah, I

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Speaker 3: just get myself somewhat put together and walk out and

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Speaker 3: you've got candles lit. It's pitch black, and you've got

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Speaker 3: the glow of the computer on your face.

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Speaker 4: Because you've been up for an hour. You usually get

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Speaker 4: up an hour before I do.

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Speaker 3: And there were two glasses of champagne at the table,

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Speaker 3: and that was you're not And you said to me,

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Speaker 3: you're alive, and I knew, I knew you knew.

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Speaker 4: It was very sweet.

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Speaker 2: Almost other days I say you're alive and it means

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Speaker 2: something different, meaning he finally woke up. There it is.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, today is different, and especially and it's cloudy

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Speaker 2: and it's overcast day. It's gonna be raining today, and

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Speaker 2: that feels like just life. It feels like, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Today feels great and we're upbeat and we're happy, and

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Speaker 2: we have a lot to look forward to. We have

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Speaker 2: great trips coming, we have great family trips coming, have

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Speaker 2: very great family events coming. It's just a great, great

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Speaker 2: time for us, and we're sharing a little bit of

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Speaker 2: it now. We try to keep rogues. We're trying to

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Speaker 2: keep to ourselves. To the most part, we're trying to

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Speaker 2: just enjoy we're public people who trying to enjoy some privacy.

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Speaker 2: To a certain degree, we are. We still have the

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Speaker 2: attitude nobody gives a damn about our relationship, and we

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Speaker 2: made that mistake and it cost us before. So we're

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Speaker 2: trying to find that balance. But this is something I

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Speaker 2: think rogues is worthy for a lot of people out

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Speaker 2: there who have their own cancer versaries to see how

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Speaker 2: other people are treating it, dealing with it, and even

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Speaker 2: for family members or friends or spouses or partners of

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Speaker 2: those people just because they're telling you out it's just

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Speaker 2: another day. Don't think for a second that it doesn't

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Speaker 2: matter that you acknowledge that how important this day is

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Speaker 2: to the person in your life who had to go

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Speaker 2: through cancer. Everybody needs to take note of this day,

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Speaker 2: this day, not because it's your day. I'm saying, take

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Speaker 2: note of a cancer verse.

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Speaker 4: I know I got emotional when you were saying that

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Speaker 4: upbeat no, because I do want to say this.

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Speaker 3: Look, I have been offended and upset in moments, and

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Speaker 3: everyone's in different places in their life. But anyone who

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Speaker 3: complains about getting older or about another birthday, it has

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Speaker 3: always been upsetting to me since my cancer diagnosis. I

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Speaker 3: was one of those people beforehand. But every day, every

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Speaker 3: year is absolutely a gift.

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Speaker 4: And if you can try to find.

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Speaker 3: That attitude, it's a game changer because instead of saying,

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Speaker 3: oh I'm older, Oh look at this wrinkle, Oh you

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Speaker 3: know my body isn't doing what it used to be

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Speaker 3: able to do. All that may be true, but it

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Speaker 3: beats the alternative. And anyone who has faced this disease,

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Speaker 3: who's loved somebody who's faced this disease, understands how important

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Speaker 3: time is and how precious that gift is.

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Speaker 4: And so that's what today is for me.

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Speaker 3: It's a reminder to embrace whatever this day brings, whether

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Speaker 3: it's rain and wind and the weather you didn't want

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Speaker 3: or the weather you love. Whatever it is, you're here,

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Speaker 3: you're a lie, You're able to react, you're able to give,

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Speaker 3: you're able to love, you're able to receive. So I

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Speaker 3: just yeah, today's a beautiful day and another important reminder

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Speaker 3: of the fact that we're all just lucky to be

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Speaker 3: here and grateful to be here.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully, well, we are lucky, we are grateful, we are blessed. Yesterday,

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Speaker 2: but tomorrow yesterday as well well. Happy cancerversary, baby. We

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Speaker 2: got some partying to do, but we want to hop

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Speaker 2: on and acknowledge what today is and if you've got

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Speaker 2: that person in your life. Several of the cancer versaries today, tomorrow,

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Speaker 2: this month, next month, and so on. But it's always

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Speaker 2: worth noting folks, so we appreciate you. It's always going

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Speaker 2: along on this journey with us. But for now I'm TJ.

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Speaker 2: Holmes along with my still thriving fiance Amy Robot. We'll

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Speaker 2: talk to you also