Katie Couric Encourages Eye Health Checkups After Friend Is Diagnosed with Rare Cancer

The 67-year-old revealed that her friend was diagnosed with uveal melanoma, a rare eye cancer

• Katie Couric’s friend was diagnosed with uveal melanoma, a rare eye cancer

• The legendary journalist is encouraging fans to get their eyes checked annually

• As a cancer survivor herself, she often uses her platform to raise awareness for various forms of the disease

Katie Couric is encouraging her social media followers to stay on top of their routine eye exams.

On June 5, the legendary journalist and author, 67, posted a photo on Instagram alongside her friend Cherie in the hospital, both wearing eye patches.

“My friend @cherieneve — who happens to be the lead singer of @rubixkubeband, my favorite 80’s cover band — was diagnosed with uveal melanoma in her left eye and just had surgery at @memorialsloankettering,” Couric revealed.

“Uveal melanoma is a very rare eye cancer that affects only 3000 people in the US every year — mostly fair skinned people with light eyes,” she wrote. “That’s why it’s so important to get your eyes checked every year by an Ophthalmologist people!!! 👁️👁️ Cherie is part of a clinical trial—another reason it’s so important to support cancer research!!! She’s in the hospital right now. Please send her lots of ❤️s and healing thoughts. I love her and this will make her day!!!! Thank you!!! Xoxoxo.”

Uveal melanoma, also known as intraocular or ocular melanoma, is a rare type of cancer that occurs in the tissues of the eye. Symptoms include blurred visions, floaters, flashes of light, a dark spot on the iris, changes in pupil size or shape and changes in position of the eye in the socket.

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Couric has long been one to speak up and raise awareness for routine checkups and different types of cancer. Earlier this year, she opened up about continuing her years of advocacy after learning of her own breast cancer diagnosis in 2022.

“It was a shock,” she told Haute Living in January. “It was destabilizing. The room kind of started moving around. It was scary. And even though we’ve made so much progress in cancer treatment, it was still a pretty scary [diagnosis].”

Over the years, Couric has been vocal about how cancer has impacted her life — even before her own struggle. Her first husband Jay Monahan died in 1998 of colon cancer and her sister Emily died of pancreatic cancer two years later.

Since then, the famed journalist has co-founded Stand Up 2 Cancer, the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance and the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health.

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Related: Katie Couric Shows Eczema Flare-Up in Vulnerable Photo: 'It Just Flares Up a Lot and It’s So Annoying!'

“When I looked at my situation compared to other people, I felt very fortunate. I had this foundation of experience,” she explained. “Because I have done so much work in this area, it was less scary and confusing for me. I knew what it meant to be diagnosed when you have metastases on other organs — as was the case with both my husband and sister — and knew that if the cancer was localized, if it wasn’t in my lymph nodes, I was in a good shape."

The former Today co-anchor continued, “It wasn’t as if I was just being introduced to this world of cancer. I have a pretty deep knowledge of the disease, and an understanding of treatment protocols and therapeutic approaches. Ultimately, I felt very relieved, thinking, ‘This is what it is, and I’ve got this.’”

Couric said during her late husband’s cancer battle, she had a months of education about the disease and the importance of early detection and routine screenings. “I felt this obligation to inform the public,” she admitted.

“I try to use any platform I have to educate the public, not just about breast cancer, but all sorts of health issues because I want to share what I’m learning,” she said at the time. “One of the things I’ve mastered through the years is distilling and synthesizing complicated medical concepts and explaining them in simple terms to people. I feel like this is part of my mission: informing people, but doing it in an understandable, accessible way.”

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