It was Roker’s first appearance since his November 9 surgery and his sense of humor was very much intact.
Al Roker made a cheerful return to “TODAY” on Monday, two weeks after he underwent surgery for prostate cancer.
The 66-year-old TV weatherman had his prostate and some surrounding tissue and lymph nodes removed on November 9 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC.
“A lot of love from my family, [wife] Deborah and [kids] Nick and Leila and Courtney, and a lot of you, and all of you here, just really took care of me,” Roker said during his return. “Great medical care and the love of friends and family, it goes a long way.”
Telling cohosts Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Carson Daly that he’s feeling good, he joked, “Look, after the first week when you get that catheter out, I was feeling good!”
He also shocked them all when he said, “Now I’ve got something I share with Debra and all of you ladies who have had children: I’m Kegeling right now!”
Roker said he’ll continue to get bloodwork done every six months for the next five years, starting the first week of January 2021.
“I’m a blessed man. Usually you’re dead when you get all this love. This is happy,” he told his morning show crew, who said he’s never looked better. “Actually,” he cracked, “I was hoping I looked a little better.”
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Al Roker Reveals Prostate Cancer Diagnosis, Celebrities Share Their Support
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Roker revealed his diagnosis on the November 6 show.
“It’s a good news-bad news kind of thing,” Roker explained at the time. “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.”
“It’s a little more common than I think people realize, so I just decided that I wanted to go public with it because one in nine men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime,” he continued. “But for African-American men, that number is one in seven and is 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.”