Journalist Joan Lunden talks about surviving cancer and support from her husband and children

Joan Lunden kicks cancer’s butt!! The former Good Morning America host, who was diagnosed with a rare and pretty nasty form of breast cancer last year, revealed in an interview with Today show’s host Matt Lauer on the morning show earlier this year, how she survived it and how her family and children reacted when they found out about it.

Lunden, who fought the cancer bravely, requested all those women suffering from the cancer to think positively and to retain hope. The mother of seven, who underwent several sessions of radiation therapy as a part of her treatment, said: “I'll tell you. One of the best ways to get through it is with your attitude.”

The former TV show host and journalist, aged 64  shared her journey with her fans and gave every detail of her treatment from the lumpectomy to the 16 rounds of chemotherapy which she underwent in 2014.

The proud mother revealed how she received support from her husband Jeff Konigsberg whom she married on April 18, 2000. She also added that her three older daughters from her former husband Michael A. Krauss, whom she divorced in 1992, also supported her.

In fact, her family was so supportive of her that she received several letters from fans who sadly wrote to her sating that she had her family at such critical moment while they had none.  

“When you say that to me, I cry,' she said referring to the letters. “But it's a good reminder for me because I have kind of been thrust out there, in the front of this breast cancer, to be a voice for everyone.”

The former TV anchor also added that the near completion of her treatment had given her a sense of relief and she was feeling like her battle with cancer was finally coming to an end.

The author of eight books said: “This is the very very first time that I have been close enough to the finish line to actually feel like I can see the finish line. You know for me - and everyone is different - radiation is a walk in the park after chemo.”

Due to chemotherapy and extensive exposure to radiation, Lunden lost her hair and had to shave the remaining off.  So she jokingly told the host Lauer: “You have more hair than I do. That is not fair.”

The Today Show co-host who is completely bald on his head replied with a laugh: “I don't get that very often,' the Today Show co-anchor replied with a laugh.”

Lunden added: “I am starting to get eyelashes again... They are tiny, but they are growing back out.”

The cancer survivor also revealed how she had been traveling along with her family and how it was important to act normally to maintain the situation of her family and dear ones.

“I want my children to be able to get up in the morning and go to school and not thinking; ‘Gosh, is mommy going to be okay? Is she going to live?’ I try to be as normal as I can.”

The 64 year old cancer activist also urged other cancer survivors like her to stop acting miserably, like they didn’t mean anything. She requested women to try things out and spent some time with other people as much as they could.

“You can kind of get burrowed down in that and become the sick cancer patient,” she said.

“Be with people. Go out to a movie. Laugh, find ways to laugh.”.  

“All of a sudden, somebody is woe is me, and it is very easy to let one bad day do that to you.

 “But we have the ability at any moment in time to change your mind about how you are feeling that day,” she said.

Her memoir “Had I Known: A Memoir of Survival” went on sale yesterday and she is actively promoting it on Twitter.