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Al Roker is grateful to those who donated blood to him during his past health issues — especially Today coanchor Craig Melvin.
“I’m a living example of being a recipient of those donations during my health issues,” Roker, 70, said on the Today show on Monday, July 28, after Melvin, 46, gave blood live on-air to encourage others to follow in his footsteps.
Melvin, who took over Hoda Kotb’s position on the Today show’s early hours in January, agreed with Roker, noting that he “came over” to Roker’s place and “gave” him blood before.
“I wanted to make sure it was earmarked for you,” Melvin joked, before Roker added, “Yeah, in fact, after I got Craig’s blood, I started talking slower and I started drinking more bourbon. So, bonus!”
Roker made headlines for his health in November 2022 when he was hospitalized with blood clots in his legs and lungs, forcing him to miss NBC’s coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time in 27 years.
Despite a brief trip home, the news anchor was rushed to the hospital again in December 2022 due to internal bleeding from ulcers. During the emergency surgery, doctors resected his colon and removed his gallbladder.
“My doctor said if I had not been in the shape I had been, I would most likely not be here today,” Roker told People in a June interview with his wife, Deborah Roberts, noting that the situation was “frightening beyond belief” for them. “It’s the toughest thing we’ve ever endured as a family and a couple.”
Aside from dealing with blood clots, Roker, who has been on the Today show for 29 years, has endured some other serious health issues including being diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 2020.
“It’s a good news-bad news kind of thing,” Roker said on the Today show at the time. “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.”
Roker noted that he had to undergo surgery to have his prostate removed and that Roberts, 64, had been his biggest supporter despite being “upset” about his diagnosis.
“Once she got past that, the reporter in her kind of took over. She’s been at everything ever since,” he explained, noting that he decided to go public with his diagnosis because one in seven Black men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. “[I want to] let people know they got to get checked.”
After undergoing surgery to remove his prostate, lymph nodes and some surrounding tissue, Roker was considered cancer-free.
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