You’d have never known it given her bright smile and grace on NFL sidelines this season, but FOX Sports broadcaster Erin Andrews was living a new nightmare.
Just six months removed from a trial involving the Marriott and her stalker, Michael David Barrett, over a peephole video that had been taken of her in the nude, Andrews was hit with another piece of devastating news.
While in a production meeting prior to a Week 3 matchup between the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, Andrews received a follow-up phone call from her doctor regarding earlier tests. The results were in and she had tested positive for cervical cancer.
“When you hear the word cancer, you fear the worst,” her father told MMQB. “When it’s your child, you think to yourself, you think to God: Take me, not her. She has been through enough. She is just getting her life back.”
Andrews initially kept the diagnosis to herself, worked that Sunday and then returned home to Los Angeles. Less than two weeks later, she headed in for surgery. But not before delivering a very stern message to her oncologist.
“I’m not watching any football games at home. This is [Fox’s] Super Bowl year, and I’m not missing the Super Bowl,” Andrews recalled saying.
Two days after her surgery, Andrews was back on the job, traveling to Green Bay where she’d film a pregame feature. Only a few short days after that, and against doctor’s orders, she was back on the sideline.
“Should I have been standing for a full game five days after surgery? Let’s just say the doctor didn’t recommend that,” Andrews says. “But just as I felt during my trial, sports were my escape. I needed to be with my crew.”
On February 5, Andrews will again be with her crew. This time, she’ll be standing on the sideline in Houston prior to Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons. And for the second time in a calendar year, she will have won; she will have beaten incredible odds and held herself together in the face of something most of us could never comprehend.
