2. Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts may not have been a symbol of humor as much as Tig Notaro, but she definitely used her story with breast cancer to spread hope and inspiration. Co-anchor of Good Morning America, Robin was preparing a tribute to her colleague Joel Siegel and to his fight with colon cancer when she found a lump during a self-exam. On July 17, 2007, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. After considering what she could do to fight her own disease and help others going through the same problem, Robin decided to make her struggle public.

“My mom said, ‘Make your mess your message‘,” said Roberts. “She helped show me that there are others who are going to benefit from [my story] and that the pain and discomfort I was going to go through would be minimal compared with the benefit I could bring to other people.” After a lumpectomy, a partial mastectomy, eight rounds of chemotherapy, and six and a half weeks of radiation therapy, she went into breast cancer remission.