Jay Harris spoke out Thursday to spread awareness about prostate cancer and how men should “take a cue from the ladies” and talk to each other.
LOS ANGELES — Jay Harris, an ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor, has announced he will be missing from the program for about a month after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The announcement was made on “Good Morning America” on Thursday, where Harris revealed his diagnosis and shared that he was getting surgery next week and will need some time to heal.
“I’m having surgery on Tuesday. I’ll be away from SportsCenter for about a month to recover,” he said on GMA. “Then I’m coming back better than ever.”
While a cancer diagnosis can be scary, Harris says his doctor is “quite optimistic” and the cancer hasn’t spread beyond his prostate.
He took to the show to share his experience golfing with his friends and sharing his diagnosis to bring awareness about prostate cancer. He said how his friends were really supportive after getting the news and how the conversation was “fantastic” because he decided to share.
“When it comes to things below the belt, you don’t want to talk about any of those things because, you know, ‘we’re a man’ and ‘we’re virile’ and all that stuff,” said Harris. “But, we are human beings and we need to take a cue from the ladies.”
That cue? Studies show men have higher cancer mortality rates for all sites combined compared to women and are “less willing” to participate in cancer screenings.
Harris also mentioned how prominent Breast Cancer Awareness month is in October. He said he only recently learned September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month.
“We need to get the message out. People need to know, we have to talk about it. It doesn’t have to be a death sentence- for most folks it is not,” said Harris.
He said his father had prostate cancer, and he only recently found out some other family members on his father’s side also had it.
“We all need to talk about these things because we all have them in our families. By not talking about them, and I hate to be morbid, but we sentence ourselves to death for not talking,” he said.
Harris said his fellow “SportsCenter” anchors who have battled cancer, or have family who has, have been helping him through the journey of having cancer.
Having that support is “a blessing all the way around. A true blessing.”
