Fox 29 anchor Mike Jerrick diagnosed with prostate cancer, recovering from surgery

Good Day Philadelphia devotees can relax: Mike Jerrick isn’t going anywhere.

The veteran newscaster told audiences during a morning show segment Monday that he was off-air for the past three weeks recovering from surgery related to prostate cancer. He was accompanied by Mike Cirigliano — a Fox 29 contributor and internal medicine generalist with Penn Medicine — who made Jerrick’s initial diagnosis.

“I wasn’t suspended, I wasn’t fired, I didn’t get into trouble, I wasn’t on a long vacation. I was getting this taken care of,” Jerrick, 74, told cohost Alex Holley during the segment.

Fox 29 did not have a timeline for when Jerrick would be back on the air.

Jerrick said he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May after a standard blood test showed that his prostate antigen levels had “jumped into the teens,” generally a cancer indicator.

From there, an MRI revealed that some of the cancer had moved beyond his prostate, prompting Jerrick to undergo surgery at the recommendation of his urologist earlier this summer.

“I could’ve just done nothing. … I could’ve hit it with radiation for a couple of years, but I agreed with [my urologist]: Let’s get this sucker out of me,” said Jerrick, who will be recovering off-air for at least a few more weeks.

Cirigliano said there was a “good possibility” the cancer would’ve continued to spread beyond Jerrick’s prostate had he waited much longer.

Jerrick said he “feels pretty good.” During the segment, he thanked both his teams at Penn Medicine and Fox 29 for their support as well as his cohost Holley, who was among the first to visit him after surgery.

Another surprise support system: Preston and Steve Show cohost Steve Morrison. Jerrick said Morrison, whose show is on WMMR radio, provided emotional guidance during this process, informed by Morrison’s own bout with prostate cancer in 2015.

“I’ll be back soon,” Jerrick said at the end of the interview. Holley replied: “I know you will.”