Life After Cancer
- Breast cancer survivor Hoda Kotb is parting ways with her beloved job as a talk show host on the “TODAY” show to spend more time with her family, a reason which led Meredith Vieira to also leave the show.
- Hoda Kotb, who battled breast cancer in 2007, will be leaving the show early next year to have more time with her daughters, ages seven. and five.
- In 2011, Meredith Vieira also announced she was leaving NBC’s “Today” show to spend more time with her three children and husband Richard Cohen, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, at 25. He is also a colon cancer survivor.
- That process of pushing oneself to try new things, which Kotb seems to be doing, is one of the “three wellsprings of vitality,” according to Dr. Samantha Boardman. These “three wellsprings of vitality” can help someone develop the strength needed to survive or manage a difficult situation.
Breast cancer survivor and host of NBC’s "TODAY" show Hoda Kotb, 60, has decided it's time to part ways with her beloved job as a talk show host to spend more time with her family because "we only have a finite amount of time." Kotb's reasoning for her departure, which aligns with what led to her fellow TV personality
Meredith Vieira 's decision to leave "TODAY," is to allow herself more quality time spent with her adopted daughters seven-year-old Haley and five-year-old Hope. The broadcast journalist and author, who has battled breast cancer and been through divorce, told her co-workers and viewers on air this week, "I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new. "I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, 'This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.' And I thought it can't get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on." Her departure from the show, which will take place early next year, comes 17 years after she started on the "TODAY" show.
Kotb also wrote a
heartfelt letter to her fellow "Today" show staffers on Sept. 26, explaining in detail, "To my TODAY family, As I write this, my heart is all over the map. I know I'm making the right decision, but it's a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I'm feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it's time for me to leave the show.
RELATED: What Happened To Iconic Broadcaster Meredith Vieira? Her Years as a Caregiver for Her Husband Through Cancer & MS. Here’s How She Handles the Hard Days. "My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life. But only because you've been beside me on this twenty-six-year adventure. Looking back, the math is nuts. 26 years at NBC News - Ten years at Dateline, seven on the seven o'clock hour, sixteen on the ten o'clock hour. I'm picturing your faces and your families and all the ways you've lifted me up and inspired me. That's my heart singing. So many of my professional relationships have become some of my most cherished friendships. Savannah: my rock. Jenna: my ride-or-die. Al: my longest friend at 30 Rock. Craig, Carson, Sheinelle and Dylan: my family. Libby, Mazz and Talia: my fearless leaders. I will miss each and every one of you at TODAY desperately." She continued, "I’ve been weighing this decision for quite a while – Am I truly ready? But, my sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift. Like a massive, joyful YES, you are! I saw it all so clearly: my broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.
RELATED: Family Love and Support Makes a World of Difference During Cancer Treatment "Because I’ll be working through the beginning of 2025, there’s plenty of time to talk about what's ahead for all of us. But one thing I know for sure right now is this: everything’s going to be just fine. The Peacock’s feathers are never ruffled… no matter who comes or goes. TODAY and its amazing people — all of you — never waver. You always weather change with grace and guts." She concluded by insisting that "family is family" and her coworkers "will always be a part of mine." https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1839280777323806812 Kotb, mom to her two daughter, both who she shares with her ex-fiance, financier Joel Schiffman, previously opened up to People about how she had to take off some time for work due to her daughter experiencing a medical issue. She told People in the
exclusive interview , “We had a scary stretch. Any parent who’s been through a scary thing with their child understands. “It’s like you just can’t believe that your child’s sick. You can’t believe that there’s nothing you can do. You can’t believe that no matter what you do, you can’t will it away or protect her, or all the things that we’re supposed to be doing as parents. And it’s a position I’ve never found myself in.” Kotb hasn’t revealed the specifics of her daughter’s health crisis, but she did note her daughter’s health is being managed long-term. However, she did say that months after learning of her daughter’s health issue, “things have stabilized.”
Powering Through Adversity
Hoda’s Breast Cancer Journey
Hoda Kotb was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Her doctors discovered lumps in her breast tissue during a routine exam. She treated her breast cancer by undergoing a single mastectomy, which means one of her breasts was removed. She then had breast reconstruction surgery, which rebuilds the shape and look of the breast. After surgery, the beloved news anchor continued her treatments by taking the drug tamoxifen (Nolvadex) for five years. Tamoxifen is a selective estrogen receptor modulator which means it works to prevent estrogen from helping cancer cells to grow. It is also used to prevent breast cancer among women who are at high risk for breast cancer because of family history. “Cancer shaped me, but it did not define me. It’s part of me, but not all of me,” Kotb said at the annual Breast Cancer Research Foundation New York Symposium and Awards Luncheon in 2017.
Meredith Vieira's Departure From The 'Today' Show & Role as a Caregiver
In 2011, Meredith Vieira announced she was leaving NBC's "Today" show to spend more time with her three children and husband Richard Cohen, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, at 25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDzexu6LcGs However, hearing his diagnosis wasn’t his first experience with the disease, as he's previously admitted, "I'm the third member of my family, the third generation to have [MS]." The disease has since attacked his eyes, vocal cords and limbs he’s legally blind, talks with a scratchy voice and uses a walker to get around. Thankfully, Vieira has been by his side every step of the way.
SurvivorNetTV Presents: "Defying All Odds" A World-Renowned Doctor's Incredible Journey Through MS "Chronic illness is a family affair. Spouses have the burden of tending to the needs of a loved one, even when they would secretly rather push him out a window," Cohen
writes in his memoir Chasing Hope: A Patient's Deep Dive into Stem Cells, Faith, and the Future. "I knew they should not be treated as spectators when they are in the ring with us." In addition to living with MS, Cohen is also a
colon cancer survivor . After first overcoming a 1999 diagnosis, the disease returned in 2000. “He went into himself like I’ve never seen,”
Vieira recalled of the second diagnosis . “I think he was a much angrier man. That second surgery carried with it a lot of stuff afterwards, the recovery period. He had to have a bag. He felt humiliated."
RELATED: Graceful Aging Secrets: Martha Stewart, 82, Reveals Routine That Keeps Her Looking So Great Still, Cohen carried on and moved forward with strength. But not without the help of Vieira. The “25 Words or Less” host has certainly struggled with the realities of his disease from time to time, but she always circles back to her sense of gratitude for the love she’s surrounded by. "I'm an emotional person, and there's a level of stress each day, but I look at our three kids and at my husband and think, What do I have to complain about? I'm blessed!"
she said. Embracing Life & Resilience After Cancer
Life on the other side of a cancer battle can bring a whole new host of anxieties. And you might even need further treatment to reduce your risk of developing cancer again. It’s important to know, however, that your feelings after cancer treatment are valid, and many other survivors struggle after overcoming the disease. "In life after cancer, I experienced an entirely new level of anxiety that I didn't know existed," Hodgkin lymphoma survivor CC Webster previously told SurvivorNet. "Earth-shattering anxiety that makes you sweat, and makes your heart race." After learning how "to process the trauma that [she] had just been through," Webster was able to get back to living life on her own terms.
Follow That Fire: Life After Cancer Will be Different, That Doesn't Have to be a Bad Thing "The thing that helped me the most in managing myself is to allow yourself to process the worry," she said. "If you're brave enough to look fear, or worry, or anxiety in the face, it goes away. "The whole process of being sick, especially at a young age, gives you more perspective on yourself and on the life that you want, because we've gotten the second chance. And if you can be bad ass enough to follow that fire, it is an amazing thing. It will take you places where you didn't even know existed." Challenging oneself can certainly help people cancer survivors, or those facing cancer, chronic disease, or other problems to develop resilience, which is an essential
coping tool. That process of pushing oneself to try new things is one of the “three wellsprings of vitality,” according to
v . The other two are connecting with others and contributing to the lives of people around you.
Mental Health Understanding the Three Wellsprings of Vitality Dr. Boardman explains, “Those are the cores of vitality, and the core pathways to enhance your everyday resilience.” These three pathways can help someone develop the strength needed to survive or manage a difficult situation, but they all stem from having a positive outlook.
Dr. Zuri Murrell, an oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously spoke with SurvivorNet about the role of a positive outlook on the survival rates of patients battling illness. “I'm pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease,” Dr. Murrell said. “And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff 
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