BlackDoctor.org) -- Bryant Gumbel stunned a television audience, and the world, on Tuesday with the news that a malignant tumor in his chest and part of his lung were removed two months ago.
The surprising reveal happened while the former “Today” show anchor, 61, was subbing for Regis Philbin on Tuesday's edition of "Live With Regis and Kelly.” He and Kelly Ripa had been talking backstage and Ripa mentioned that she wanted to dance with him to accompany a segment with a woman who dances for exercise. Gumbel hesitated, and when Ripa pushed it, he said he was not allowed to dance. Then he revealed his condition to her. "It's nothing to hide from," Gumbel said. "They opened up my chest, they took out a malignant tumor, they took out part of my lung and they took out some other goodies. Even with the surgery, some aggressive cancer cells had escaped, so I went through some treatment and it's done now.”
According to sources close to Gumbel, who is not a smoker, the tumor was not in his lung, but rather, was next to it. While it's been confirmed that Gumble did not have lung cancer, he still underwent cancer treatment. Gumbel and his wife, Hilary Quinlan, deliberately tried to keep the news a secret, not even mentioning the issue to his staff at the HBO sports newsmagazine "Real Sports” – he didn't miss a single episode, taping shows on both Sept. 15 and Oct. 27. "We hope," he said. "We HOPE it's over."
