An Emotional Milestone
- Katie Couric celebrated the wedding of her daughter Ellie Monahan on July 4.
- Couric said that her late husband, Jay Monahan, Ellie’s father who died in 1998 from colon cancer at just 42 years old, would be very proud.
- The number one symptom to look out for with colon cancer is a change in bowel habits, according to leading experts.
Couric posted a photo of her holding her daughter, who is now an accomplished writer, when she was little, reflecting on her little girl who has now made this big step into adulthood.
“It seems like yesterday when Ellie was crawling up my body like a little gymnast and doing a back flip off my shoulders,” she wrote. “When she wouldn't take off her Belle dressever. When she got her wisdom teeth pulled and was so loopy she asked the dentist to lunch. When she would spin the volleyball before a serve. When she headed off to college where she met a wonderful guy named Mark. When she moved to LA for graduate school…and became a successful TV writer. And on and on. It went by in a flash and today Ellie is getting married to her beloved Jersey boy.”
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Couric warned friends of the influx of photos and videos that they would be viewing on her Instagram.
“OK friends warning: I'm going to be insufferable for the next few days because I will be sharing wedding photos and videos like a crazy person.”
She posted a picture from the ceremony, on the mountaintop of Cedar Lakes Estate in Port Jervis, New York.
“It was perfect. The weather was perfect. (Thank you Jay.â¤ï¸)”
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“Ellie was a breathtakingly beautiful bride. Mark was a dashing and beaming groom,” she continued. Carrie, her other daughter with Monahan, was the maid of honor and sang at the wedding.
“The music was incredibly special which I will explain in a later post. I didn't take many pictures because I wanted to be completely present and just take it all in,” Couric shared. “So now I'm looking for the best photos until we get the professional ones. It was such an incredible, moving, extraordinary weekend full of love and friendship and some serious competition during Field Day. I can't wait to share everything with you. I'm still walking in air even though I can barely move. I'm so happy I could cry but there are no tears left. Wait! I'm crying again. Tears of joy. More later on this Instagram station.”
Couric gave Ellie’s husband her ring from Jay for their extra special proposal, which she shared in February 2019, showcasing a photo of the newly-engaged couple and the beautiful ring.
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Katie’s Tragic Loss and Being Left a Single Mother
Couric, who has found love again with her current husband, financier John Molner, honors her late husband by dedicating most of her life to raising awareness for colorectal cancer. Monahan was just 41 when he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, and he passed the following year. The couple married in 1989.
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Couric spoke to CureToday.com in 2019 about her tragic loss.
"Our daughters were 6 and 2 at the time, and it's really hard to describe the kind of heartbreak that ensued after he passed away," she said. "Our hopes and dreams, what I thought was going to be a long and happy life together, just vanished into thin air after his nine-month battle."
Related: The Toughest Conversations: Losing a Spouse to Cancer
Tragically, the cancer had spread to his liver, which is why Monahan went so fast. She addressed having to start over and pushing forward.
"I think that it's hard to describe for people what it's like unless you've been there, and you have to rebuild your life," she shared. "Thomas Jefferson once said that the earth is for the living and we're all terminal. So I wanted to try to have a full and happy life, even if it meant doing so without my husband. I had two little girls who were depending on me. I didn't have the luxury or the time to put the covers over my head and give up. I think people find a way to go on because they have to go on. They have no choice but to go on."
One of the most heartbreaking elements of Couric's loss is her regret about overprotecting him about how serious his prognosis was. "I really tried to not fall apart in front of Jay, and looking back on it, there's probably a lot of dishonesty about the whole thing," she says. "I think that sort of cockeyed optimism prevented me from ever really saying goodbye."
Learning About Colon Cancer
One of the most common signs of colon cancer, and the top thing to look out for, is a change in bowel habits. This ranges from constipation or diarrhea to changes in the size or shape of bowel movements. A change in stool color, particularly black or tarry stools, can indicate bleeding from a tumor that lies deep in the colon.
Dr. Paul Oberstein from NYU Langone Health's Perlmutter Cancer Center goes over symptoms of colon cancer in a previous interview with SurvivorNet.
"One of the most important facts about colon cancer is that the earlier and smaller it's detected, the easier the treatment is and the more likely it is to be cured," Dr. Oberstein explains. "Because colon cancers grow in the lining of the colon, they sometimes can cause problems with digestion. So someone may have constipation or diarrhea or problems going to the bathroom. Sometimes, they'll cause pain if they're growing large. Rarely, they can grow large enough to be felt as sort of a firm growth in the abdomen, but that's uncommon."
Other symptoms can be harder to pinpoint, such as abdominal pain and unintentional weight loss. Finally, some tumors bleed a small amount over a long period of time, resulting in anemia (low red blood cell count) that is picked up on blood work.
"Imagine a wound on the surface of the skin," Dr. Oberstein says. "It can bleed a little bit and ooze blood. And if that happens, one person a person might see what's called black tarry stools. So they might see darkness in there bowel movements. And that's a sign of bleeding in the stool that's caused by the cancer."
If a person has significant bleeding, they can develop what's called anemia, which is low blood counts, and be tired or have trouble with normal activities because of those blood counts.
"We often recommend to patients that if they see a change in their bowel movements and they feel more fatigued than usual, or they have new issues, it's something to be concerned about and to be pursued with their physician."
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