Joan Lunden Recalls How Going Public with Her Breast Cancer Journey in 2014 'Changed' Her Life - PEOPLE

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Joan Lunden is reflecting back on her health journey as a breast cancer survivor and how her early advocacy impacted the women's health space.

Speaking with Yahoo Life Series Unapologetically, the Good Morning America veteran opened up about coming forward with her breast cancer story in 2014.

Diagnosed with stage two triple-negative breast cancer at age 64, she shared her story exclusively with PEOPLE at the time, boldly showing her bald head on the cover, which she now says she "wasn't so inclined" to do.

"Not because of vanity," Lunden, 72, clarified. "I just didn't want anybody to think that I was being exploitive or anything … I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do. And their editor-in-chief came to me and said, 'If you do this, not only will it be one of our most iconic covers, but you're going to help a lot of people, cause you're going to instill bravery in a lot of other people facing cancer.' "

The response from doing that cover changed her "from a patient into an advocate in a heartbeat," she recalled. "And it made the rest of my cancer journey way, you know, nicer, if you can call it that. It just changed it in the most positive way."

Lunden's been a leading advocate for breast cancer awareness ever since.

Now full-fledge in the health space, the Sacramento-born journalist hosts Second Opinion with Joan Lunden, which empowers viewers to take control of their health. Through this higher purpose, she told Unapologetically she feels she is honoring her late father — himself a cancer surgeon who, at 51, tragically died in a plane crash while flying home to Malibu from a speaking engagement at a cancer conference. Lunden was just 13 years old.

Her cancer treatment included 16 rounds of chemotherapy, six weeks of radiation and a lumpectomy. She admitted that the "aggressive chemo treatment" did take a toll on her. As she told PEOPLE at the time: "I could decide to do nothing, but that's certainly not my personality. I was handed an opportunity to learn everything that I can about this and try to help others."

After her treatment concluded, Lunden tried to control thoughts of having a recurrence — a common fear in cancer survivors. She credited her doctor with helping her eradicate that way of thinking.

"He took my hands inside his hands and he looked at me and he said, 'Don't you remember Wile E. Coyote, the cartoon character who had run off the top of the cliff? Well, he was never, ever, ever in trouble until he looked down," Lunden recalled to Unapologetically.

"You've taken the best medicine, you keep your head up, you expect a good outcome,'" she said. "And I walked out of there and thought, 'You know, he's totally right.' And that's how I just kind of choose to live my life."

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Elsewhere during the interview with Unapologetically, Lunden addressed choosing to hold her head up after her 1997 departure from GMA after 20 years, which she said was not by choice.

"I mean, I was 47 years old. That's not old. They don't push men out because they're 47," she said, adding, "I don't look back. I'm not that kind of person that looks back."

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Lunden, who said she "hogged all the health stories while at GMA," said she felt compelled to "carry on my dad's legacy."

"I finally came to peace with the fact that, as a broadcaster, you can disseminate health information and help massive numbers of people," she said. "And then I got diagnosed with breast cancer, and I didn't think it would happen to me," saying she was "flabbergasted" when she heard the news.

"But it took me about 24 hours to say, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute: This is my opportunity to take the baton from my dad, the cancer surgeon, and run with it.'"

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Joan Lunden Recalls How Going Public with Her Breast Cancer Journey in 2014 'Changed' Her Life - PEOPLE
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