A beloved Fox News anchor discovered that he had skin cancer during a live TV segment that left him, his co-anchor, and viewers stunned.
During a skin care segment with Dr. Joanna Walker, a dermatologist with the Tara Miller Melanoma Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Mike Jerrick, co-host of “Good Day Philadelphia” on FOX29, was told he had cancer by Dr. Walker.
The news segment was highlighting the importance of checking the skin for signs of cancer.
Dr. Walker inspected a spot on Jerrick’s right elbow, diagnosing it was basal cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer.
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer, affecting about 3.6 million Americans each year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
“It has all the features of the most common type of skin cancer, which is also very treatable when it’s caught early,” Walker said in the segment.
Jerrick expressed surprise, asking, “What are you going to do to it, burn it off?”
The dermatologist replied that the cancerous spot most likely needs to be “cut and stitched.”
Watch how it all unfolded here —
Thankfully for Jerrick, Dr. Walker said that that basal cell is a “very slow-growing type of skin cancer” that’s not likely to spread anywhere else on the body.
“But you do need to remove it so it doesn’t keep growing and take over normal skin,” Walker advised.
Jerrick discussed his shocking, on-air diagnosis with Fox News, indicating that it came as a complete surprise.
“I did say that we should have her bring her [micro]scope because I wanted to check out a couple of things on my arms, so that part was planned, but I never really thought it was going to be skin cancer,” he said.
“When she blurted it out, I didn’t get alarmed or anything,” Jerrick said. “It was just like, ‘Oh dang, I should have done this a long time ago.’”
“I was more shocked that she said she was going to cut it out instead of burn it off — that’s where I got surprised.”
According to Jerrick, he’s scheduled to have the cancerous spot removed on Friday.
“I should be fine,” he said. “She’ll just suture me up and I’ll be on my way.”
To those with similar markings or skin changes, “it’s important to get those checked,” he advised.