Authors: Jeanette Torres
Ida Mae Astute/ABC(NEW YORK) -- Robin Roberts made a much anticipated return to the Times Square Studio of ABC's Good Morning America for a behind-the-scenes test run Thursday morning.
Roberts arrived at the studio at 5 a.m. after waking at 3:45 a.m. It was her first time back on set since undergoing a bone marrow transplant last September.
"What a thrill to be back at GMA's Times Square Studio this morning and see the best folks in the world, my GMA family,” Roberts said. “I can’t wait to get back to the anchor chair in a few weeks.”
During a live interview from her New York City home last week, Roberts explained that she would be doing a series of “dry runs” that her doctors had approved as the next step in her recovery and on her road to returning to “GMA.
"My doctors want me to see how many people I actually come in contact with. How my body reacts to the stimulation, that's code word for stress, of being in the studio environment," she explained.
"My skin is very sensitive and so we have to see how it reacts to the studio lights. My vision is still a little blurry from the treatment," she said, explaining why tests needed to be done off-air. "All of this is getting better day by day so that is the next step."
Roberts' doctors approved her return to GMA after her most recent test showed no abnormalities.
"What we know now is that we can't see any of the disease that prompted this whole process right now," her oncologist, Dr. Gail Roboz, of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center said on GMA last week. "That's really, that's what we were looking for."
In late December, Roberts, a breast cancer survivor, celebrated the crucial 100-day benchmark from her bone marrow transplant to treat myelodysplastic syndrome or MDS, a rare blood disorder that affects the bone marrow. The transplant was a five-minute procedure in which the donor cells from Roberts' sister, Sally-Ann, were injected into Roberts' system through a syringe.
Roberts first announced her diagnosis on GMA in June and has been on medical leave from the morning show since Aug. 30.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio
