34 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • NOVEMBER 26, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
Joan Lunden: A New
BY SHERYL NANCE-NASH
Joan Lunden always wanted to be a doctor,
like her father. She also thought about
teaching for a time. When she became
an award-winning journalist and bestselling
author, she fulfi lled her earlier
dreams, through her work as a motivational
speaker and a women’s health and
wellness advocate.
Long before Lunden was a household
name, she started humbly as a trainee for
KCRA-TV’s news department in 1973.
Within two years she was a weather person,
reporter, and anchor for the station.
Next stop, New York City, for a job
at WABC-TV and then Good Morning
America. Her nearly two decades as a
television cohost are legendary.
She reported from 26 countries, covered
fi ve presidents, several Olympic Games,
and told us how to care for our homes,
families, and health. Life aft er GMA has
included, among other positions, working
as a special correspondent on the TODAY
Show, host of the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and CBS television station’s
series Your Health, and starting in
January, she’ll be at the helm
of PBS’ Second Opinion. She
created a women’s summer
getaway camp in Maine,
designed a line of home
goods, and wrote 12
books.
She’ll tell you quickly
where her heart
is. Health is her passion.
She knows fi rsthand
about health challenges.
In 2014, Lunden
was diagnosed with triple
negative breast cancer,
which required chemotherapy,
surgery, and
radiation. She turned her
experience into a teachable
moment. She shared
her cancer battle in her
memoir Had I Known:
A Memoir of Survival. She advocates for
cancer patients on Capitol Hill and elsewhere
and engages with the cancer community
through social media and her
website, joanlunden.com.
At 70, the wife and mother of seven,
including two sets of teenage twins, is
hardly slowing down. Earlier this year,
she published her latest book, Why
Did I Come Into Th is Room? A
Candid Conversation About
Aging. Her take on the female
aging process is as informative
as it is entertaining. She keeps it
real, talking about the guts and
glory of growing older.
Long Island Press spoke with
Lunden, who will host Schneps
Media’s virtual Health & Fiscal
Wellness Expo on Dec. 3, to chat
about her career, family, women’s
health, aging and more.
What was it like in the beginning
of your career in such a competitive
industry? I was a young woman on
local television news in New York when I
got a call from my agent saying that I had
gotten an off er to cohost Good Morning
America. Twenty minutes later I got a
call from my gynecologist telling me that
I was pregnant with my fi rst child. Th is
would be new territory. I was one of the
fi rst anchors to appear pregnant on television.
Th e network was great. When I
told them that I was breastfeeding my
daughter Jamie and that she needed
to be with me, I got a dressing
room for her next to mine. It had
a crib, and a baby nurse would
look aft er her. She was even with
me when she was 1 year old,
and I had to cover the royal
wedding of Diana and Charles.
I felt like I was helping make
things change in the workplace
for women. ABC got a lot of
letters from viewers in support
of what they saw happening for
me. But also there was the realization
that while it was wonderful
that my workplace was accommodating,
what about other women?
Th is set me on a path to be an advocate
for women. Earlier this year I testifi
ed before Congress urging them to support
the Family and Medical Insurance
Leave Act.
As a wife and
“When I make the drive between my
home and the offi ce, I notice the
sun coming through the
trees. In my 30s I was too
busy to see the sun.”
Joan Lunden recently
published Why Did I Come
Into This Room? A Candid
Conversation About Aging.
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/joanlunden.com
