Al Roker looked back on his own journey with prostate cancer and shared his well wishes with former President Joe Biden in the wake of Biden’s announcement that he has been diagnosed with the illness.
The TODAY weatherman reflected on May 19 about undergoing treatment for prostate cancer after announcing in 2020 that he had been diagnosed.
“When I was diagnosed, I had an 8 on the Gleason scale, but they said they had caught it early, even though it was aggressive, so I had a fairly wide range of treatment options,” Al said on TODAY.
After Al’s diagnosis, he underwent successful surgery in November 2020 at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to remove his prostate and some surrounding tissue and lymph nodes. He announced in May 2021 that his six-month checkup found there was nothing detectable in his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, giving him a clean bill of health.
Biden, 82, was diagnosed with prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9 with metastasis to the bone, his office said in a statement on May 18.
The Gleason system used to grade prostate cancer ranges from Grade 1, considered “very low grade,” to Grade 5, considered “very high grade,” per the Mayo Clinic. Biden was assigned Grade 5.
The Gleason system also uses scores ranging from 2 to 10, with only scores from 6 to 10 being considered cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic. Biden was assigned a Gleason score of 9, compared to the 8 that Al said he was given at the time of his diagnosis.
Al also sent his well wishes to Biden in a response on X to a post by the former president on May 19 in which he made his first comments about his diagnosis.
“Mr. President. As I found out from my battle with prostate cancer, you are part of a group that no one wants to be part of, but knowing you, you will face this latest challenge with courage, humor and grace,” Al said.
Al and the former president have had a playful friendship dating back to Biden’s time as vice president. The two have shared a fist bump or handshake during inaugural parades for Barack Obama and then when Biden became president in 2021.
Biden also called Al to offer his well wishes after the weatherman underwent shoulder surgery in 2014. Al also got him on the phone again during the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
