After his appearance on air raised concerns among football fans, Fox Sports analyst Terry Bradshaw disclosed his recent health battles he said during Fox’s pre-game NFL show on Sunday, October 2, saying he was diagnosed with bladder cancer and then skin cancer.
“Last week on this show, I ran out of breath, and Howie [Long] helped me up,” Bradshaw said on Sunday’s show, referring to an incident from a week prior, per ESPN. “And a lot of people are asking what’s wrong with me, what’s happened to me physically.”
Saying he just wanted “to address it” and fill in fans on what has happened in his life, Bradshaw discussed the first of two cancer diagnoses. “In November, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. I went to the Yale University Medical Center — surgery, treatment. As of today, I am bladder cancer free. That’s the good news.”
Then he discussed his next bout with cancer: “In March, feeling good. I had a bad neck. I get an MRI. Now we find a tumor in my left neck. And it’s a Merkel cell tumor, which is a rare form of skin cancer. So I had that surgery done at M.D. Anderson in Houston.”
Despite the health scares, Bradshaw assured fans he’ll recover in time.
“Folks, I may not look like my old self, but I feel like my old self,” he said. “I’m cancer free, I’m feeling great. And over time, I’m going to be back to where I normally am.”
As ESPN recaps, Bradshaw was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft and played in the league for 14 seasons, during which time the quarterback led the Pittsburgh Steelers to their first four Super Bowl victories.
An alum of Louisana Tech, Bradshaw was also named Super Bowl MVP twice and he landed the NFL Most Valuable Player award in 1978.
Bradshaw retired from the NFL after the 1983 season and started a broadcasting career as a sports analyst for CBS the following year. He joined Fox NFL Sunday in 1994 and has stayed with the program ever since.
The 74-year-old has acted on TV and in film — playing himself in Married… With Children and Modern Family, for example, and taking a supporting role in the rom-com film Failure to Launch — and he has starred in the reality TV shows The Bradshaw Bunch and Better Late Than Never.