ESPN reporter Shelley Smith is set to return to the network’s airwaves on April 30th following a seven-month battle with breast cancer.
Her first assignment back will be in Hawaii, where she will interview former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota both before and after the NFL Draft. She will be doing this while completely bald.
“I have a friend who is a former oncology nurse who tells me that when your hair falls out, it means the chemo is working,” Smith told Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch on Monday. “That’s the attitude I took into this. I miss my hair, but I took what she said to heart: My bald head means I have a fight and I look at it as being fortunate to have a battle.”
Smith announced that she had cancer last October, and has been away from ESPN since, having undergone multiple radiation treatments. Her final round concluded last week, and she says that she is “basically cancer free”.
ESPN signed Smith to a multi-year deal late last year, just two months prior to her diagnosis with cancer.
Doctors have told Smith, who is 56, that she has a very good chance to be healthy longterm. You go, girl.
[Source: Sports Illustrated]
