*News of Bryant Gumbel’s battle with lung cancer may have been premature, according to a friend of the television personality who says Gumbel donesn’t have the condition.
Despite Gumbel’s admission to going under the knife, Sean Cassidy revealed the former “Today Show” host’s situation would have been more serious had he actually been a lung cancer victim.
“A tumor was removed from his chest cavity. It was malignant. It was adjacent to his lung. Lung cancer is much more aggressive than what Bryant had,” Cassidy shared in Richard Prince’s online Journal-isms column. “There’s a very big difference between Bryant Gumbel’s condition and what has been reported in the press.”
Cassidy’s revelation comes days after Gumbel opened up about his surgery on Tuesday’s edition of “Live With Regis and Kelly.” According to reports, the 61-year-old journalist said the operation took place two months ago as a malignant tumor and part of his lung were removed. Gumbel co-hosted the show with Ripa in place of Regis Philbin, who is recovering from recent hip replacement surgery.
“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.”
Why Gumbel’s lung had to be partially removed was something Cassidy said he could not explain. As he told Journal-isms, he’s not a doctor.
Despite his medical status, Gumbel continued to play an active role on his HBO sports newsmagazine, “Real Sports.” So much so, the newsman said he kept the show’s staff in the dark about what he went through. Gumbel’s efforts proved successful as he ended up taping shows on September 15 and October 27, without missing an episode.
Gumbel’s willingness to share his situation soon became a double-edged sword as speculation over the cancer increased after he said “‘We hope. We hope, it’s over.” The remark resulted in rumblings that the cancer, which was assumed to be in Gumbel’s lung, was still active.
Media outlets later picked up on the story, with headlines stating that Gumbel did indeed have lung cancer. Even NBC, the network Gumbel formerly called home, acknowledged the story as it reported that Gumbel had lung cancer.
Upon seeing the news reports, Cassidy, who serves as president of the New York-based public relations firm DKC, became determined to set the record straight on Gumbel’s medical standing.
“When you’re diagnosed with cancer, it has to be monitored,” the executive maintained. “His prognosis is very good.”
