Al Roker Reveals That He’s Been Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

We can eat our organic fruits and vegetables, exercise five days a week, get a full eight hours of sleep and do all the things to make us healthier, but unfortunately, sometimes there are things we can’t control.

Unfortunately, weatherman and journalist Al Roker revealed on the show that he was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. He announced his diagnosis on the most recent episode of the Today Show.

While of course, the news is disheartening to hear, it doesn’t go without any good news either: Roker caught it early, meaning there’s a good chance he can fight it. However, it is an aggressive form.

“It’s a good news-bad news kind of thing,” he explained. “Good news is we caught it early. Not great news is that it’s a little aggressive.”

Because of the diagnosis, Roker has agreed to take some time off from the show so that he can take care of himself.

One of the biggest reasons he decided to go public with the news was to potentially help other men, as prostate cancer is more common than some people realize, affecting one in every nine men. Additionally, for African American men, that number’s 1 in 7, plus it’s more deadly.

“So if you detect it early this is a really treatable disease and it’s why I wanted to take you along my journey so we can all learn together how to educate and protect the men in our lives,” Roker said.

Some of the main symptoms of prostate cancer include frequent or painful urination, blood in the urine and sudden erectile dysfunction. Check with your doctor if you’re concerned about prostate cancer, especially if there’s a history in your family of the disease.

So what’s Roker doing to treat his own diagnosis? Next week, he’ll be undergoing surgery to remove his prostate at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

However, don’t for a minute think that Roker is feeling sorry for himself—and he doesn’t want other people feeling sorry for him either. “I don’t want people thinking, ‘oh, poor Al,’ because I’m going to be okay,” he said.

We love his positive spirit!

To hear more about Roker’s diagnosis and upcoming surgery, check out the video below.

Do you know anyone who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer? How did they overcome it?