WSB anchor Jovita Moore battling brain cancer
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Channel 2 Action News announced this week that Anchor Jovita Moore has an aggressive form of brain cancer. Jovita had brain surgery in April after doctors discovered tumors. At the time, doctors had hoped she could be back on air in eight to ten weeks, assuming no serious complications. However, pathologists discovered Jovita had glioblastoma, a serious form of cancer. “It’s not something I can cure with surgery alone,” Emory University School of Medicine associate professor and neurosurgeon Edjah Nduom told Jovita’s co-anchor Justin Farmer during a newscast.
“The reason for that is gliomas and glioblastoma in particular have these tentacles that go beyond the lesion we can see on a scan and beyond what we can even see with our operating microscopes.” In an effort to slow the cancer’s growth, Jovita is undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, Farmer reported. “I was able to see her in clinic a couple of weeks ago. She was in good spirits,” said Nduom. He went on to say that her healthy lifestyle and support system are helping Jovita through this ordeal. He also said glioblastoma is not hereditary and has nothing to do with a patient’s diet or lifestyle.
According to the Mayo Clinic website, Glioblastoma is a cancer that can be very difficult to treat and a cure is often not possible. Treatments may slow progression and reduce signs and symptoms. The Glioblastoma Foundation, which promotes efforts to develop better drug therapies for the disease, said “the median survival of a person diagnosed with glioblastoma is about 15 months.”
Jovita, 53, did not appear on camera but sent an audio message to the station for the public to hear. “I just want to say a quick thank you,” she said. “Thank you for your cards, thank you for all the gifts, and most importantly, thank you for your prayers and positive energy. I feel all of it. I’m home now, I’m up and about and doing everything my doctors tell me to do. So for now, I need to be here to focus on my health. I’m surrounded by my family, a very small circle of friends, but also your extended love and support. This journey for me started with an unusual headache so if something’s not right with you, I urge you to please get yourself checked.”
Jovita has been with WSB-TV since 1998 and has won numerous Emmy awards. As the station’s primary evening anchor, she took over after Monica Pearson retired in 2012 and helped the station remain a top-rated news operation.
The station said people can leave a note online on the WSB-TV website or send cards to Moore at the station address: 1601 W. Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. She also has asked for concerned viewers to donate to two charities: Our House, a charity that addresses homelessness, and the National Brain Tumor Society.