In her memoir, Going There, former Today show coanchor Katie Couric reflects on the last days of her husband, Jay Monahan, who died of colon cancer at age 42 in 1998. “I did everything I could do to keep Jay alive,” she writes. “Looking back, I wish I had done a better job helping him die.” While glad she pursued every therapeutic opportunity, in an interview with Terry Gross on the WHYY/NPR radio show Fresh Air, Couric regretted not being “brutally honest” with her husband about his poor prognosis. If she had been, she writes, “I think maybe he would have done a video for Ellie and Carrie [their daughters], like Michael Keaton did in his movie called My Life.” After Monahan’s death, Couric cofounded Stand Up To Cancer and has dedicated herself to raising awareness about colorectal cancer, including prevention through screening.

Going There Katie Couric