Longtime ESPN anchor Jay Harris announces prostate cancer diagnosis

Jay Harris has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The longtime ESPN anchor announced his diagnosis in an interview with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America on Thursday. 

"I'm having surgery on Tuesday, and I'll be away from SportsCenter for about a month to recover, and then I'm coming back better than ever," Harris said. "My doctor's quite optimistic. Per my last scan, nothing has spread, so once we take out the prostate, hopefully that'll be it."

Harris, who has worked for ESPN since 2003, said that he wanted to share the news of his diagnosis because common health issues often go underdiscussed in male circles. "Especially when it comes to things below the belt," Harris said. "You don't wanna talk about any of that stuff because we're men and we're virile and all that stuff. But we are human beings and we need to take a cue from the ladies."

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The anchor said that his vulnerability sharing his diagnosis helped his group of friends share more openly about their own struggles on a recent golf trip. 

"I told them what was going on with me, and the conversation from there was fantastic," Harris recalled.." We talked about doctor's appointments and ailments and family histories and things that we wouldn't have had a conversation about. Because I figured I needed to share."

Harris reiterated the importance of discussing health issues. "We all need to talk about these things, because we all have 'em in our families," he said. "By not talking about them, we just really — I hate to be morbid — we sentence ourselves to death for not talking."

The broadcaster also said that his colleagues at ESPN have been immensely supportive throughout his journey with cancer — particularly fellow anchors Brian Custer, who also had prostate cancer in 2013, and Hannah Storm, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

"I anchor mostly with Hannah, so she asks me every day, 'How you doin'? How you doin'? Make sure you do this, make sure you do that," Harris revealed. "Brian also had the surgery years ago, so Brian has told me maybe some things I didn't wanna hear. But he's like, 'I'm giving you real talk, 'cause you need to know.' So I appreciate that."

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Harris advocated for increased participation in Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, which occurs every September. "Wear your blue tie for prostate cancer awareness," he urged Strahan. "I mean, we need to get the message out. People need to know. It doesn't have to be a death sentence — for most folks, it is not."

Prostate cancer is among the most common types of cancer, as the National Cancer Institute estimates that nearly 13% of all men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lifetime. It also has one of the highest survival rates of all cancers, with a 97.9% rate of survival after five years.