“Today” host Craig Melvin became visibly emotional during Monday’s broadcast after a touching cancer-related segment hit especially close to home.
The moment unfolded during Jenna Bush Hager’s regular “Morning Boost” segment, which featured a grandmother being surprised by her granddaughter during her final chemotherapy treatment.
As the clip ended, Bush Hager noticed Melvin struggling to hold back his emotions.
“Oh, Craig, you have the Monday feels over there,” she said, adding that the clip was “pretty sweet, right?”
Co-host Carson Daly jumped in with some light teasing.
“Look, he does have a heart!”
Melvin then explained why the story had hit him so hard.
“Yeah, well, my mom rang the bell today, so, yeah, that’s a good one.”
Daly quickly realized the deeper meaning behind the reaction.
“It hits home. That’s what the Boost does!”
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Melvin’s mother, Betty Jo Melvin, was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2025 after undergoing a routine mammogram.
She later opened up about the shock of receiving the diagnosis.
“Getting the diagnosis was not what I expected the day that I got it,” Betty told WIS TV in Aug. 2025, adding that she was “speechless.”
For the Melvin family, the diagnosis carried an especially painful weight because cancer had already taken loved ones from them.
Betty said she struggled to tell her sons, Craig and Ryan, about her diagnosis because of what the family had already endured.
“My youngest son, I lost my granddaughter to cancer, children’s cancer,” Betty said. “I lost my son to colon cancer about five years ago, so to tell them your mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer, it was hard. It took me several hours before I could call them and let them know.”
Craig’s half-brother, Lawrence Meadows, died from colon cancer in 2020.
Since then, Melvin has become an outspoken advocate for colorectal cancer screenings and early detection in his brother’s memory.
The emotional reaction on “Today” came as Betty marked a major milestone in her own treatment by ringing the bell, a tradition often used to celebrate the completion of chemotherapy or another major phase of cancer treatment.
Melvin has long spoken publicly about how central his mother is to his family.
In a 2023 birthday tribute, he wrote, “Betty Jo Melvin is the rock of our family. She’s the glue. Please join me in wishing her the happiest of birthdays. I’m not me without her and neither is my brother, her siblings, or grands. She’s sacrificed her entire life so those around her can live better. The love that endures is beyond social media expression.”
Melvin and his wife, Lindsay Czarniak, also recently spent time with Betty and other relatives during a family vacation in South Carolina.
“A few snapshots from days well spent in SC with my favorite people,” Craig captioned photos from the trip last month. “ ☀️🌴 Filled with beach days, good food, loud talking, spades playing, movie watching, mediocre golf, plenty of laughs, and a whole lot of family time. Always the best time of the year.”
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