The well-known sports reporter and TV host recently revealed a terrifying and secret fight with cancer she endured throughout the entire NFL season.
Known for her incredible skill as a reporter and show host, the longstanding TV personality and sports journalist, Erin Andrews has dabbled in a variety of shows across many networks, including the CMT Awards.
In addition to those ventures, Andrews has become a household name after joining Tom Bergeron as co-host of the immensely popular dancing competition show, Dancing With The Stars. Andrews signed on as a host during the 18th season, and has remained a fan-favorite part of the series ever since.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s The MMQB, Andrews opened up about her cancer diagnosis and the subsequent battle she faced, but kept hidden from the world.
It was September of 2016, and Andrews got a call from her doctor with results from tests taken during her most recent checkup. The doctor confirmed the results: cervical cancer.
“When you hear the word cancer, you fear the worst,” her father said of the diagnosis. “When it’s your child, you think to yourself, you think to God: Take me, not her. She has been through enough. She is just getting her life back.”
After the diagnosis, Andrews kept the information to herself and continued to work during every single NFL game for the duration of the season, not missing a beat. She was preparing for the surgery that was ahead. In reflection, Andrews says that it was the recently settled lawsuit over a man who secretly filmed her at a hotel that “toughened her up” for handling her cancer battle.
“After the trial everyone kept telling me, ‘You’re so strong, for going through all of this, for holding down a job in football, for being the only woman on the crew,’” Andrews said. “Finally I got to the point where I believed it too. ‘Hey, I have cancer, but dammit, I am strong, and I can do this.’”
Just mere days after her surgery in October, Andrews returned to the sideline during a Green Bay Packers game, still keeping her fight against cancer secret from colleagues and the public.
“Should I have been standing for a full game five days after surgery? Let’s just say the doctor didn’t recommend that,” she said. “But just as I felt during my trial, sports were my escape. I needed to be with my crew.”
This was the first of two surgeries to cleanse her body of cancer, and in early November she received news from her doctors that she was cancer-free and would not have to endure further treatments like chemotherapy or radiation.
It’s a terribly hard thing to receive a cancer diagnosis, and to battle it in secret could only make it harder. We are incredibly happy to hear that she has been given a clean bill of health after the surgeries and this fight of hers is only a testament to her strength and resilience.