Better : How I Let Go of Control, Held on to Hope, and Found Joy in My Darkest Hour

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “An inspiring story of coming back from cancer and learning to cherish every moment.”—People

“I have breast cancer.” When Good Morning America anchor Amy Robach revealed her shocking diagnosis on live television in November 2013, the seasoned news reporter embarked on the most difficult and illuminating journey of her life. In this intimate memoir she retraces the twelve months following her announcement and speaks candidly, for the first time, about how her illness affected her family life and her marriage, tapped into her deepest fears and strengths, and transformed her in ways she never could have imagined.

Only weeks earlier, in September 2013, ABC producers asked Robach to get an on-air mammogram to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Her first instinct was to say no—there was no history of cancer in her family, she was only forty years old, and she felt strange drawing attention to herself when she had no personal connection to the issue. (She’d been meaning to get her first mammogram that year but had conveniently “lost” the prescription.) Her colleague Robin Roberts, herself a cancer survivor, convinced her to do it with one simple sentence: “I can pretty much guarantee it will save a life.”

To Robach’s surprise, the life she saved was her own: Tests revealed malignant tumors in her breast, and she immediately underwent a bilateral mastectomy, followed by six months of chemotherapy treatments.

Better is more than a story of illness and recovery. Robach recounts the day she and her husband, Andrew Shue, got the terrible news; the difficulty of telling her two young daughters, and the challenges of carrying on with the everyday duties of parenting, nurturing a fledgling second marriage, and managing a public career. She lays bare the emotional toll of her experience and mines her past for the significant moments that gave her the resilience to face each day. And she describes the incredible support network that lifted her when she hit bottom.

With honesty, humility, and humor, Robach connects deeply with women just like her who have struggled with any kind of sudden adversity. More important, she shares valuable wisdom about the power of the human spirit to endure the worst—and find the way to better.

Praise for Better

“By selflessly sharing the incredible story of her unexpected journey with breast cancer, Amy has given countless others hope. Better is the perfect title for her beautiful book. Sitting next to her every morning at GMA, I’m blessed to experience how my dear colleague and friend makes everything and everyone better.”—Robin Roberts, co-anchor of Good Morning America

“Amy is tough as nails and tenderhearted. The perfect combination, no? I have loved her for years, but never more than when I watched her beat cancer with such strength and grace. Her book is full of hope and healing—for Amy, and for all of us.”—Hoda Kotb, co-host of Today

“[Robach’s] beautiful new book, Better, is an exploration of her battle with breast cancer. What I love about it is that she never claims to be fearless; she was petrified. . . . Super inspiring stuff, the kind we need way more of in general.”—Meredith Rollins, editor in chief, Redbook

“With the amazing background to Robach’s discovery of her disease, plus her inspirational tenacity during her career, readers will likely never miss their annual mammogram again. For all patient health collections.”—Library Journal

Amy Robach is an American television journalist and anchor for ABC’s Good Morning America. Previously, she was the co-host of the Saturday edition of NBC’s Today, a national correspondent for NBC News, and an anchor on MSNBC. Over the past twenty years, she has traveled the country and the world, interviewing political figures such as President Barack Obama, John McCain, Nancy Pelosi, and John Edwards, as well as newsmakers like Malala Yousafzai, Oprah Winfrey, and Prince Harry. Robach’s #GIRLPOWER series on ABC profiles influential women including the first and only four-star female Navy admiral, Michelle Howard, and FEED founder Lauren Bush Lauren. A Michigan native and graduate of the University of Georgia, Robach lives in New York City with her husband, two young daughters, and stepson.