“Good Morning America” co-host Robin Roberts has been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, a blood and bone marrow disease once known as preleukemia. She developed MDS as a result of her breast cancer treatment five years ago, which, according to ABC’s medical correspondent Dr. Richard Besser, is a rare manner of transmission that affects only a few hundred people per year.
The prognosis for many MDS patients is usually dire, but because Roberts is young and healthy, Besser believes that things look promising. Also of benefit to Roberts is the fact that she has already located a good donor. Her older sister, Sally Ann Roberts, an anchor for WWL-TV in New Orleans, is considered a perfect match to donate marrow and said she will do so sometime this fall. The 51-year-old ABC anchor hopes the attention that she receives for her diagnosis will encourage people to donate bone marrow that might help someone else with the disease.
