Sara Gore said she “hit a low” following her breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent double mastectomy.
In an interview with People published Friday, the television host, known for her work on NBC, opened up about the emotional toll her diagnosis — which she revealed on air during “New York Live” in April — and surgery had on her mental health.
“I hit a low and started getting really depressed. I was in so much pain, and I think I started having a little bit of a pity party, and I was stuck in my own rut,” Gore, 50, told the outlet.
Gore, whose mother and sister have both had breast cancer, received her diagnosis in March, recalling that “it’s like this thing kind of hits you in the face.”
“Even though I had been prepared for it, so to speak, I was not prepared for it at all,” she said, referring to the routine mammograms she underwent every six months and her family medical history. “My heart kind of dropped.”
She decided to undergo a double mastectomy in late April, which she described as a “godsend” because it allowed doctors to determine that the cancer had not spread and that they had “caught it early.”
“I’m so glad that they’re gone now,” she added.
However, Gore said the period leading up to the surgery was “so hard” because of the “anticipation” and “sheer anxiety.”
“No one knew yet, and I was doing the show every day. And let me tell you, it is so hard to pretend that you’re in a good space when you’ve got all this stuff going on. It was very emotional,” she explained.
“After the surgery, the emotion goes away for a little while, and you are all in the physical,” she added, referring to the severe nerve pain and limited range of motion she experienced in her right arm.
She also leaned on her “supportive” friends and family members at the time, admitting that “you can’t do any of this stuff alone.”
Gore said she is “full of gratitude” following breast reconstruction surgery in September, adding that she is done with “the major surgeries” and is now cancer-free.
“I do believe that there is a gift in this,” she said. “It’s just an emotional journey, and it makes you feel very vulnerable and very raw.”
“And if you’re one of the lucky ones, which I am, it makes you feel like, I gotta do something. So I feel motivated to help other people,” she added, referring in part to her 9-year-old daughter, Fiona Rose.
“She said, ‘Does that mean I’m going to get breast cancer?’ And that just broke my heart. So that’s why I’m like, we can’t fail the girls,” Gore said, adding that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime — an estimate shared by the American Cancer Society.
“One in eight? That’s not a stat. That’s somebody that you know. So it’s so important to keep continuing to raise awareness and get everybody all the information. We need to make sure that breast cancer is impossible to ignore. You have to stay on it.”
As Page Six previously reported, Gore announced in late April that she would be taking a leave of absence from her hosting duties on “New York Live” and “Open House” as she sought treatment for her diagnosis, admitting, “If I didn’t say that I was a little bit scared, I’d be lying.”
She later shared that she was cancer-free in an Instagram post in July, thanking her followers for “every thoughtful gesture that came [her] way.”
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