tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with robin roberts. she recounts the last few years of her mother's life come including battling a rare blood disorder. we are glad you have joined us. a conversation with robin roberts coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. first wasn roberts a bestseller. her new book is a memoir. it is a story of triumph over diversity that is sure to encourage a whole lot of folk.

you are on the west coast this time. >> i know. tavis: i always see you on the satellite. >> may i say congratulations on the star on the hollywood walk of fame. tavis: i appreciate it. my mama is proud of me and i know that your mama was proud of you. your mama begins and ends this book. who told youother that everybody's got something. >> that's right. little kid, playing in mississippi and would hurt my feelings or something,, said, everybody's got something. come on now, just move on. when i got older and the challenges became a little bit more than someone just picking on me, i remember 2007, when i was diagnosed with cancer, she said sweetly, honey, everybody's got something. i see her way of saying

your something, i know, but everybody has to go through something so what are you going to do? lessons are the life that i have learned to help me get through my something and hopefully get people on the road to something better. tavis: everybody's got something, robin, and yet there is some of us were tested time and time again. your mother was of abiding faith. and i know she put that into you. and yet, in the middle of this book, you are honest and candid about the fact that you looked up to god one day and asked some questions. >> i wasaying, you could spread the message around. if you want to try somebody else, it's all right with me. [laughter] the people asked me about my faith and going to something like this and people are challenged by something like that. yes, i got mad. and i said, god can take it. he can take it. there is a reason and a purpose.

there is something quite you're going through this so it took me a little longer. , i'm supposedncer to the people in our community to get out there and get tested because early detection can save lives. one,e to admit, with this i didn't realize i had never heard of a bone marrow transplant. i didn't know it was possible to donate your stem cells. so i am very pleased that we have been able to increase the donors that are registering. tavis: so we know that god can take it. the question is whether or not we can take it. there are many that believe that god never puts more honest than we can bear. but we have to question whether or not we have the capacity, the ability, the wherewithal to actually with all -- actually endure.- >> when you are told you only have a year or two and the

possibility of finding a donor -- at the time, i did not know that my sister would be a perfect match, thank you jesus. when i was doing the audio version of this, i had to stop sometimes. who was i talking about? i was talking about me. we are all a little bit stronger than we thought we are. i never thought at certain times of this journey that i would be here with you and that i would be the person that i am, just so happy and filled with such gratitude. so i think there is a myth that people feel that people of success, that we are never fearful, that we are never challenged, that we have some supernovae -- no, we are like everybody else. it is not staying in that state. you have to change the way you think in order to change the way you feel. tavis: you are good looking when you were bald, when you got medium hair, when you got a head

full of hair. i know companies don't sign off on this stuff without your approval. you signed off on this photo. >> i want people to know -- first of all, i got a good shave head. people sometimes will not seek treatment because they are fearful of losing their hair. and i wanted to show them, you know what -- i'm glad you said that, the smile is still there. the person is still there. if somebody is going through it, i don't know what they're something is, but just keep smiling. gois: let me flip it now and to the worst parts. give me some sense of what the worst today's were like. >> worst day was losing my mama. losing my mother so close to

transplant. never gonei have through anything -- i didn't stub my tilde that my mama being there. was -- it ismother something that i still had to put my grief on hold. my doctor said, you know this, but so much of what i was going through was physical and mental. but through transplant, my throat felt like i had swallowed a blowtorch. was one point where the nurses said they came into the room and i was hallucinating because i was on certain medication, on a pain med machine. they said that i was at the foot interviewing walter conk right -- walter cronkite. [laughter] those early days after the hospital, before knowing if

sister sally's cells were going , a lot of people suffer, even after having a perfect match. days, i was on my bony knees praying constantly. tavis: i met your sister sally. a journey like this do for two sisters? >> i'm so thankful that my mother and father -- my father was a tuskegee airman. he would bear his throat and we would clear the room. he was from that generation. the famous was from mama, wait till you dedicate home? tavis: -- tell your daddy gets home? tavis: right. we were siblings growing up,

yeah, we would fuss at each other and had our challenges and that, but our parents were very good at, no, this is blood. you are going to work through this. sally and is eight years older. there is something -- i look at her now, tavis -- tavis: yeah. >> i gave her an out when they determined one sister was not a match and sally was and i gave her an out. to do thisdon't have because it is an undertaking for that person, too. and what she said to me after some silence, which worried me, she just quietly said, sister, i don't just want to do this, i was born to do this.

to have that kind of love is something else. thank you! what you doing to me? the a's are tears of joy. -- these are tears of joy. tavis: you are not indebted to your sister. how do you process that? -- myt was one of those siblings don't know this, but this was one of my last conversations with mom. she had had a stroke and it was difficult for her to communicate. she did not want me to treat her , sally, any differently than my big brother butch and my sister dorothy. areother was very big on we all the same, we are all equal. -- ink that my sister often have to fuss with her because, if you see sister sally, she is always -- she

won't even take the credit. she gives credit to god almighty. it is hard sometimes. i realize that and i am very thankful, please, just know what you did -- and her story is so powerful. she is going around the country encouraging people from all communities to register, to be a donor. my sister was the biggest baby when it came to pain. for her to step up and to say, yes, there are some aspects that are uncomfortable, but to educate the country to be a donor and to -- what acephalous -- what a selfless act. tavis: i want to go specifically now inside the black community. i have been praying so hard, pulling and praying for you and pulling and praying for stu scott. what is up with the brothers at espn?

robyn and stewart, you got through it and i am praying for stewart to get through it. but it raises this question. given what you and stuart and your sister sally have been doing, give me some sense of what you hope the message has been particularly for african-americans. >> in particular, with mds, , once knownt i had as the leukemia and needing to have the bone marrow transplant, what makes our culture so rich and so beautiful also makes it that much more difficult to make -- to find a genetic match. as mama said, we have too much cream in our coffee. so getting the word out and the message out, did you know that a bone marrow transplant is a possible cure for sickle cell anemia? there are several conditions where a bone marrow transplant can be of service, can be a gift. i bet you some people at home just said, really? i did notice so anemia.

-- i didn't know sickle cell anemia. yes. when fear knocks, faith opens the door. and that goes for donors, too. when iu find people -- say everybody's got something, it's not just a challenge. everybody's got something to give, has a resource, has something that can help us. tavis: talk about your sister in the righteous role that she played in this process. one of the most moving stories in this book is a story of a friend of yours that was turning 50. and you scheduled a particular treatment to make sure you could get to that 50th birthday party. >> because she was there at my 50th. tavis: tell us the story. you were going to all this but you've got to get to this birthday party.

>> on sports oriented, competitive, goal oriented. her birthday was in tuscany in september. if i can get there, chances are i am well enough to get the transplant. when i was first diagnosed in the spring, do you have anything , i want want to do to get to this birthday because my friends were there at my birthday a few years before that. you know sometimes the phone rings and you are sometimes like, oh, it's that friend. i never thought of myself as being their friend and my friends never made me feel that way. but it was my way of saying i am still here. it was important to me to be there. you've got to have those goals and that was a real goal of mine. i often thought about tuscany when i was hallucinating and doing all those things and remembered that i was there, there was still alive, having

fine wine, laughing with friends. and the things that my friends and i do, we don't -- elaborate gifts -- time. we spend time. we have another 50th coming up. a dude ranch. tavis: you are the sports woman so you've got it all. haw!e you've got friends, you've got to be friendly. this might come across as a softball but it's not. i'm really curious as to what you took away from this. i recently got a star on the walk of fame and i am glad to get it. i saw hundreds and hundreds of people on hollywood and vine waiting to see me and jay leno was going to speak on my behalf and larry king and my family and friends from around the country

flew in. we've got a luncheon that was overcrowded afterwards. i'm still try to process all the love that was coming at me that particular day. that is just me on the star of the hall of fame. you are posting "good morning america." we are all following your story, tuning in to see how you are doing. what must it feel like when you've got that much love coming at you? >> my family said this to me. when i went through breast cancer in 2007, people were very kind but i kind of kept them at arms length. even though i shared with them, i allowedtime, myself. it is great that you took the time to appreciate it. there are so many different lessons here. there is also a lesson on friendship, how to be a friend on both sides, had to accept

friendship and extend friendship. and i think that is something faith, family and friends have carried me through the most difficult times in my life. tavis: give me a sense of what this has done for your worldview. -- thisnot one of those is one of the best things that ever happened to me. i would have loved to learn the lessons i have learned another way, not this painful way. but this is the way he wanted me to learn certain lessons. you've known me a long time. the person i am has not changed at all. it has brought out in -- it has been brought out a little bit more. i take in more the moments now. i feel a depth to me that i haven't before. it's hard to explain. it's not like my sister, when i got out of the hospital, we are writing home and she says are you looking at the trees? and you do kind of look at things a little bit differently

and the level of appreciation that i had, even though i had it before. again, i want to stress that. you shouldn't have something like this happen. but do i want to be the same person? do we all go through what we go through to be the exact same? thei think the core of us, values that we learn, my mama saying you know right from wrong when i was leaving the house, those kinds of things stay with you but it heightens what was there to begin with, i believe. tavis: i've known you for a long time, but not well enough to describe in my own words your work-life balance. youras it impacted work-life balance? >> it was a good lesson for me because there was no balance. it was all about work and i would not allow people to travel with me. embers here with me on this trip, my girlfriend. she never would have gone with me. i see tavis and i'm doing this

and i am doing that and i don't have time. and i want her here. i want to spend time with friends. and believe me, let me stress -- i get it. i am very blessed. i was out of work for six months. i was on medical leave for six months and had a good job to come back to. there are a lot of people who go through these kinds of things so i don't want to come by -- come across and have someone say, is, it's easy for you. for all of us, we have to take stock and find a way to make it work for us. tavis: how do you process death now? >> i'm telling you. it's like i had another dream the other day about mama. it was a deep dream. i know i scare friends when i say this. i am at peace. i am at peace. i am going to leave you like

everybody else. don't think that i'm going to give up. i am going to go out kicking and screaming. that i -- whene i was in the hospital hallucinating and just in a very bad state. i can't say that i thought i was going to die but i can't say that i wanted to. i was in so much pain and discomfort. get to heaven and rejoice but i do not want to get there any sooner than anyone else does. but knowing my mother and my father and everything that i've gone through. but i also want to say to people, thank you for the prayers. thank you for wanting me to still be here with you. there has not been a day that goes by that somebody hasn't come up to me. i was working out at the gym before coming here. a young woman, unattended there,

shared a story of how she lost her mother and her father. she got very emotional and sheep trade for me and -- and she prayed for me and said she was glad i was still here. tavis: dr. king said each of us can do our work so well that the dead, the living or the unborn couldn't do it any better. that is a high standard. you are awfully good at what you do in the morning. i know it's a wonderful team. but in large measure, the data great its out, to a stand, you being there as a part of this team, it has tremendous show for quite some time -- it has driven this show for quite some time. if you approach your interviewing any different, i'm trying to get a sense of what robin is like in the chair now. >> i feel more sensitivity to the person i am speaking with.

i give them the benefit of the doubt more. meaning, if they -- i don't know what they're going through. tavis: everybody's got something. >> if i'm thinking wisest person now i kind ofis, realize that i don't know what their day has been like. more compassion than i ever have. not feel, again, that i am the same as i was nor do i want to be. that am really grateful people watch us and continue to make us number one. the cast members change. i've lost some great colleagues and they are off doing things that speak to their heart. but one thing that hasn't changed is people watching us. there is something intimate about morning television.

they feel like you're part of the family. tavis: you set the frame and the tone for the day often times. >> charlie gibson once said this to me. i get to say good morning america. you get to look out and say to america, hope you have a good day. i'm going to do my part to make it a good day. i get chills still. tavis: what you have gone through, what you triumph over, it is miniscule and irrelevant compared to that yet a huge societal conversation because you have covered sports -- you know where i am going with this. >> i know. tavis: back to your home is edith, everybody's got something. what do you say to donald sterling? ow.w disappointed. anyone who makes the statements, you shake your head. 2014.

especially if it's coming from someone who in part makes the livelihood from african-americans. , their bottom line is determined by how well they do for you. one thing that mom taught me is why don't we focus more on what we have in common than not? and i am eager, like everybody else, to see how the league will respond. what kind of action they will take. my heart really goes out to the players. they are trying to play for a championship. this is what they want to do. and for thelled focus not to be on the court, but off the court. bottom line, anyone that would say those kind of things, it hurts. it hurts and you are just

n this timed that i of day, anybody would say that. tavis: i am pleased to see you. you are still here and you are doing such wonderful work. her name is robin roberts. her book is called "everybody's got something." robin roberts, good to have you on your. >> anytime. tavis: thanks for watching. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with harry hamlin about the final season of "mad men."

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. pbs.

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