Jay Harris will be taking a month off SportsCenter after the sports journalist was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The ESPN anchor shared on ABC’s Good Morning America that he would be undergoing surgery to remove his prostate and would take time off to recuperate.
“I was diagnosed with prostate cancer [and] I’m having surgery on Tuesday,” Harris told Michael Strahan on GMA. “I’ll be away from Sports Center for about a month to recover and then I’m coming back better than ever.”
Harris said that his doctor “is quite optimistic” about removing the cancer, adding, “Per my last scan, nothing has spread. So once we take out the prostate, hopefully that’ll be it. That’s the goal.”
The sports journalist revealed that his dad had prostate cancer, as well as other people in his family. In a note on the ESPN website, Harris said that his goal for sharing his medical diagnosis is “to join the many others who also want to normalize this conversation and hopefully provide a bit of guidance and preparation, just as it has been offered to me.”
Harris also said that “prostate cancer disproportionately affects Black men,” and added that his father was able to win the battle.
Harris joined ESPN in February 2003 and has been an anchor on SportsCenter since May 2003. After he received his diagnosis, Harris turned to his fellow anchors Hannah Storm and Brian Custer, who have dealt with cancer before.
“Their support has been extremely helpful. And my longtime friends at the V Foundation for Cancer Research have given me wonderful guidance,” Harris said.
Check out Harris’s interview on GMA below.
