Hoda Katb: "Cancer gave me the gift of being fearless."

Hoda Katb revealed yesterday that she battles breast cancer. She is the anchor of TODAY’s new 10 a.m. hour. Diagnosed in February, at age 43, Katb's first reaction was to keep the news private. “I don’t want to be ‘the girl with cancer’ … I just didn’t want that to be my only thing,” Kotb said. “But it is part of me. And it’s a big part of me. So hopefully I’ll be able to use that part of me to help other people.” Kotb was treated for three malignant breast lumps with a mastectomy and immediate reconstruction. Since her lymph nodes were clear of cancer, her choices for follow-up therapy were chemotherapy or 5 years of Tamoxifen. She chose Tamoxifen, taken as a daily pill. Kotb is separated from her husband of two years.

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