ESPN's Jay Harris Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer
By I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, June 6, 2025 — Longtime ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor Jay Harris has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is scheduled to have surgery on June 10.
Harris, 60, wrote about his experience in an essay posted June 5 on ESPN’s Front Row website. He said he got the news “over a month ago,” NBC News reported.
“It’s jarring news for sure, yet unfortunately, it’s not unexpected, given my family history and demographic,” he wrote.
Harris explained that his father had prostate cancer, and as a Black man, he knows the disease carries a higher risk.
“I’m 60. It’s something I’ve always been cognizant of, and my doctor and I talk about it every annual visit,” he continued. “And I’m sharing it all with my 26-year-old son. Maybe I’m oversharing at times — lol — but he needs to know.”
The good news, Harris added, is that his PET scan showed no signs that the cancer has spread. Depending on what doctors find during the procedure, he hopes to return to work “in a month or so.”
“My goal in sharing this 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,” he wrote.
About 1 in 8 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).
It’s the second-leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States. Most cases are diagnosed in men age 65 and older, and Black men are more likely to get it and die from it, the ACS notes.
If caught early, many forms of prostate cancer have a five-year survival rate above 99%, according to the ACS.
Harris said one of the most meaningful parts of the experience so far has been the support and stories that others have shared, NBC News reported.
“Whenever I’ve mentioned my diagnosis, invariably I’ve gotten, ‘Oh, my cousin did the radiation,’ or ‘My father had the surgery,’ or ‘My uncle went through that years ago. Do you want me to ask him to call you?’ ” Harris wrote.
Sources
- NBC News, June 5, 2025
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted June 2025
Read this next
NIH to Fund $10M in Long-Term Health Studies After Ohio Train Disaster
MONDAY, June 23, 2025 — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will fund studies of the long-term health effects of a 2023 Ohio train derailment that released more than 1...
Appendix Cancer Cases Surge in Millennials and Gen X
TUESDAY, June 17, 2025 — When Chris Williams started feeling sharp stomach pain one night in 2021, he went straight to the emergency room. The next morning, he had surgery...
Blood Tests Can Detect Cancer Years Earlier
TUESDAY, June 10, 2025 — Blood tests can detect evidence of cancer three years earlier than the disease would otherwise be diagnosed, a new small-scale pilot study...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.