Dallas Cowboys

Erin Andrews diagnosed with cervical cancer last year

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:30 p.m. ET

Sports Illustrated, SI Wire/Sports Illustrated

Erin Andrews was diagnosed with cervical cancer in September of last year, she revealed to The MMQB's Emily Kaplan.

Last June, before the 2016 NFL season started, Andrews's doctor informed her he was going to run some tests following a routine check-up. By late September, he called to tell her she had cervical cancer and would need to undergo surgery.

After learning of the diagnosis, she proceeded to cover that Sunday's Redskins-Giants game without telling her colleagues the news. Andrews then flew home to Los Angeles, underwent the necessary procedure on Tuesday, Oct. 11, and flew to Green Bay two days later for her next assignment. Five days after surgery she was back on the sidelines for the Packers' matchup with the Cowboys.

From Kaplan's story:

She refused to miss football. Before she was wheeled into the operating room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Andrews gave strict orders to her oncologist: “I’m not watching any football games at home. This is our Super Bowl year, and I’m not missing the Super Bowl.”

“Let’s not worry about that right now,” said [her then boyfriend now fiancé Jarret] Stoll. “Let’s just get you better.”

Andrews wouldn’t back down. “You wouldn’t miss a game,” she told Stoll, who played 14 seasons in the NHL. “You’d play through any injury, do whatever it takes to get back out there. That’s going to be me.”

She never had to miss a game, though she did miss two tapings of Dancing With The Stars, and by Nov. 17 she was declared cancer-free.

You can read Kaplan's full story about Andrews on The MMQB and this week's issue of Sports Illustrated.

– Erin Flynn