NYC Marathon a special milestone for ABC News' Amy Robach
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- For ABC News' Amy Robach and her husband, actor Andrew Shue, running a marathon is just the next step in a remarkable journey.
"This is my very first marathon," Amy said. "And Andrew's never even run a half marathon before. So we've been training together, and it's been an awesome thing."
"We've run, like, eight half marathons during our training. We have!" said Andrew.
"I didn't really believe he was going to do it," said Amy. "I was, like, 'Andrew says he's going to run the marathon.' But it wasn't until I actually saw you show up for the training runs that I thought he might actually run this with me."
Six years ago, Amy received a devastating diagnosis that still serves as a powerful, cautionary tale for other women.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer after undergoing a mammogram live on Good Morning America.
"Words I never expected to hear," she said at the time. "I was told I have breast cancer. The whole reason why I walked into that van was to raise awareness for people to get mammograms. And little did I know that I'd be a walking example of how having a mammogram saved my life."
A mastectomy, chemotherapy and reconstructive surgery were all part of Amy's long road to recovery.
"It changed everything about who I was and what was important to me. And so every year when that date comes around... it could be a dark day, a day of absolute devastation for me. I've turned it into a celebration because I'm still here! And I'm healthy!"
"And so last year we climbed Kilimanjaro to honor that milestone," she continued. "As a family, actually. And so this year we're running the New York City Marathon."
Now a cancer survivor, Amy is thriving - not in spite of her disease, but because of it.
"I am the strongest I have ever been in my life at the age of 46, and I'm really proud of that," she said. "And I honestly have cancer to thank for it."
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