Hoda Kotb is marking her 60th birthday with a special solo installment of her During this milestone episode, the TODAY anchor is taking a moment to reflect on her experience with breast cancer — and how it disrupted her plan for building her family. Hoda was in 2007, which she shared candidly on The TODAY Show. "When I got sick, I remember it so clearly because I was thinking to myself, like, 'How do I have breast cancer?' And 'why do I need a mastectomy?' And 'how did this even happen?' And 'is this a mistake?' And 'what does this mean?'" Hoda recalls in the new podcast episode.
"I worried that everyone who had cancer died of cancer. And I thought, 'Oh my God, well, I have it now. So is that what that means?'" Hoda underwent a as part of her treatment and has remained cancer-free in the years since.
But the experience took a toll on her self-image — and required her to adjust her expectations for the future. "I do remember that even the doctor said to me then, you know, one of the side effects, especially at your age, which was in my early 40s, is you won’t be able to have children," Hoda says in the episode. "I was like, 'Wait, what?' So this thing not only put limits on my life, but killed a dream.
(It) didn’t kill me right then, but it killed a dream," she says. At one point, Hoda explored the possibility of freezing her eggs. But, during the process, her oncologist called with disappointing news.
“She basically said that given my age and (my breast cancer treat.