The “Today” show co-host, 66, announced on Friday’s show that he will be taking time off to undergo surgery.
“After a routine check-up in September, turns out I have prostate cancer,” Roker said. “And it’s a good news-bad news kind of thing. The 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.”
After a red flag — a high prostate-specific antigen level — was raised at a physical on Sept. 29, Roker got an MRI and then a biopsy, which confirmed his diagnosis. He said he was fortunate to be able to form a “treatment plan early in my disease.”
The beloved weather forecaster will undergo surgery to remove his prostate at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. From there, “we’ll just wait and see,” he said.
Roker said he hopes to return to the NBC morning program in about two weeks.
He said, “I don’t want people thinking, ‘Poor Al’ because I’m going to be OK.”