Longtime TODAY staple Al Roker announced the sad news on November 5 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer . The beloved weatherman revealed on the show that he would be undergoing surgery soon to have his prostate removed. The surgery will take place next week at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and his co-hosts and celebrity friends are already wishing him well.
Hoda Kotb wasted no time in penning a beautiful dedication to her pal on social media, letting him know he was surrounded by love as he took this difficult journey. In the Instagram post, the 56-year-old shared a photo of Al holding her daughter, Haley, noting that he has been there for all the important milestones in her life, which included the arrival of her baby girl. Al smiled widely while holding Haley in the image, looking so very proud of his friend’s first child.
According to Hoda, Al is the kind of friend who shows up for all important moments in a person’s life, whether good or bad. She specifically mentioned how Al was supportive of her after her devastating breast cancer diagnosis in 2007 when she was just 42-years-old. She is now cancer-free.
The mother said that she would be there for Al while letting him know he would get past the disease.
“You’ve got this,” she wrote with a red heart emoji.
In a separate tweet, Hoda retweeted the TODAY show’s announcement of Al’s news, saying she loved her friend and added several red heart emoji.
Fans of the TODAY hosts began commenting below the sweet dedication on Instagram, wishing Al the best in his journey back to better health.
“Al – with your positive energy, no doubt you will beat this,” one viewer wrote.
“I don’t know @alroker personally, but his aura is undeniable. Kind, gentle, and loyal. I pray he overcomes this diagnosis. The world needs people like him,” another said.
Al seems optimistic about his diagnosis, revealing it was caught early, but mentioned that the cancer isn’t moving slowly.
“Good news is we caught it early. Not great news is that it’s a little aggressive, so I’m going to be taking some time off to take care of this,” he said on TODAY .
The 66-year-old thanked everyone who wished him well on Twitter today.
“I want to thank everyone sending all the good thoughts, wishes and prayers our way. Looking forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks,” he wrote.