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‘Today’ Star Al Roker Reveals Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: ‘We Caught It Early’
Al Roker revealed he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The Today star got candid about the recent diagnosis and announced he’s undergoing surgery to have his prostate removed.
“It’s a good news-bad news kind of thing,” Al, 66, said during the NBC morning show on Friday, November 6. “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.”
In order to keep his cancer under control, the beloved weatherman will be undergoing an operation next week at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. “We’ll just wait and see, and hopefully in about two weeks, I’ll be back [on Today],” he stated.
Dr. Vincent Laudone, who will be performing the procedure, explained why they “settled on removing the prostate” through surgery versus other options like “radiation” or “focal therapy.”
“Fortunately, his cancer appears somewhat limited or confined to the prostate,” the esteemed oncologist said on Today. “But because it’s more aggressive, we wanted to treat it.”
Al noted he’s sharing his journey in hopes that his diagnosis will urge others, specifically Black men, to see a doctor. Because the Wake Up with Al alum had the proper appointments with his physician, he was able to catch the diagnosis early and properly treat it.
“The problem for African American men is that any number of reasons from genetics to access to health care, and so we want to make it available and let people know they got to get checked,” he insisted.
Al’s cancer diagnosis comes three months after he underwent a recent surgery for shoulder replacement in August. The former Roker on the Road star — who is the dad of kids Courtney, Leila and Nicholas — also had an operation on his hip after developing a sharp pain near his waist in September 2019.
“All of a sudden, I started feeling this twinge in my hip — and then my back was acting up,” he revealed on the air ahead of his procedure. “It seems like my hip went fairly quickly … It’s not like I’m crying at night, but, you know, it hurts.”
We’re sending all of our best wishes to Al and his family.
