Al Roker Has Prostate Cancer
Today brings us some sad and scary news about American treasure Al Roker. The always game Today show host has a difficult challenge ahead of him. According to People, Al was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and will be undergoing surgery next week to have the offending organ removed. Al announced his diagnosis during this morning’s Today broadcast. The good news is it was detected early. So hopefully Al will be back on his feet in time to get into a pretend fight with a sentient sweet potato as he gives his commentary on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
According to People:
Al Roker revealed Friday that he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
During the Today show broadcast, the weatherperson, 66, announced the diagnosis, adding that he’ll undergo surgery next week to have his prostate removed. Roker said he wanted to publicly share his health battle to raise awareness about the form of cancer, which affects one in nine men.
“It’s a good news–bad news kind of thing,” he said. “Good news is we caught it early. Not-great news is that it’s a little aggressive, so I’m going to be taking some time off to take care of this.”
“We’ll just wait and see, and hopefully in about two weeks I’ll be back [on the show],” he added.
The TV personality’s doctor, Dr. Vincent Laudone, said Roker’s cancer “appears somewhat limited or confined to the prostate.”
“Fortunately his cancer appears somewhat limited or confined to the prostate, but because it’s more aggressive, we wanted to treat it, and after discussion regarding all of the different options — surgery, radiation, focal therapy — we settled on removing the prostate,” Laudone said Friday.
Here’s Al breaking the news.
.@AlRoker discusses the surgery he will undergo next week to remove his prostate. pic.twitter.com/hbNolSVUHA
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 6, 2020
Al has always been an open book when it comes to sharing his health struggles, even if it comes at his own expense. In this case, Al used his diagnosis, which came about during a routine checkup, to encourage men, and specifically Black men who are at the highest risk for developing it, to get themselves checked.
The cancer was detected during a routine physical when his doctor found that he had an “elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA)” in his bloodwork results. The father of three then had an MRI and a biopsy that confirmed the cancer on Sept. 29.
As always, FUCK CANCER. But you got this, Al! And there’s a crate of crazy wigs waiting for you when you return.
Pic: Wenn.com