On the November 8 edition of “Tamron Hall,” beloved “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts reflected on her lifesaving bone marrow transplant and shared how her decision to publicly share her journey helped save countless lives. The Emmy-nominated host also opened up about what it means to her to have a new state-of-the-art facility for broadcast journalism students built in her name at her alma mater, Southeastern Louisiana University. Also on today’s show, basketball championsSydney Colson and Theresa Plaisance shared their reactions to the WNBA taking important steps to increase gender equality in the world of sports.
Robin Roberts on upholding her father’s legacy with her recent honor at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s Patriot Awards Gala for her work with the military:
“Oh, it means everything. I am privileged to be a messenger and that’s what I feel my purpose is is to remind people of the good that is in us and when we are fighting and we’re in these different corners, I just want to be that beacon of light, that beacon of hope. And my father taught me that.”
Robin on her bone marrow transplant and being credited for saving over 140 lives and encouraging over 10,000 people to sign up for the bone marrow registry by publicly documenting her journey:
“You know, people feel that when you need a stem cell transplant that a family member is going to be a match, it’s going to be automatic, that only happens three out of 10 times. So 70% of the time you need somebody off of the registry and so I gotta tell you a little something. So my other two siblings, bless their hearts, were not a match. And we were waiting for the results to come back and to see if Sally-Ann was and I went to my mom, and I said, ‘you know, mom, really relying on Sally-Ann here, and I got to ask you something.’ Now my mom and dad had been married for almost 60 years. And he had passed, you know, some years before and I said, ‘Momma, I’m waiting on Sally-Ann, but I gotta ask you this: Does daddy have any more kids out there?’” She continued, “But I’m so proud of my sister, she too has been very, very active in getting out and letting people know it’s just a simple swab to see if you can be a possible match. And you can save someone’s life.”
Robin on what the new Robin Roberts Broadcast Media Center at Southeastern Louisiana University means to her:
“I’m thinking about my momma…she went to Howard University on a $100 scholarship. It was somebody who helped my momma write an essay. She goes to Howard, where she meets my father. And you don’t understand how generationally that helps, the generations that are helped, because of this woman who helped my momma write an essay that got the $100 scholarship, put her through Howard. She had four children who went to college, we’re all responsible human beings. So to know that my name is going to be on a building and just thinking of the young people that are going to walk through those doors and hopefully be able to fulfill their dreams, like you and I have been able do, like many of us have been able to do, that’s all we want to see.”
