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WMMR's Steve Morrison talks prostate cancer reveal

The longtime WMMR morning show host talks about why he opened up about his prostate cancer diagnosis

On today's Preston and Steve show, longtime WMMR morning host Steve Morrison revealed that he had undergone surgery for prostate cancer. Now, Morrison, who only missed three days of work after robotically having his prostate removed, is cancer free. "Four or five hours after the surgery, I was walking around. The next day I was doing two or three miles on the treadmill," Morrison told me.

Morrison said he decided to go public with his diagnosis because he wanted to raise awareness for the simple tests that could catch prostate cancer in its early stages. Men, who make up a large portion of Preston and Steve's audience, have a hard time going to the doctor to get themselves checked out. "We tend to just want soldier on and take it," Morrison said. "Also, guys wants to be in control and you have to surrender your ego a bit. You put on a gown and you feel out of your element. The truth of the matter is, when it's framed in a way that's not you succumbing, or rolling over, it's you doing what you have to do to take care of your family, your wife, your children."

Morrison credits early detection to his relatively easy bounce back. He was diagnosed in October even though he displayed no symptoms. "My doctor before [Dr. Mike Cirigliano] was the first to make me not feel hypochondriacal. When my former doctor got sick himself – he's doing fantastically well – I made the decision that I owed it to the people around me, especially my wife, to not put myself in the situation where people are being emotionally destroyed because of what is happening with me."

Morrison kept his diagnosis on the downlow for a reason. "I didn't want to this to be a Lifetime movie, I wanted to make it more inviting. It can make a difference. Guys, go get your series of tests. A lot of this is survivable," Morrison said. "I didn't want to pull attention from the [annual charity event] Camp Out for Hunger and other things we were doing and have that be the shadow over everything."

Morrison told me that his quality of life post-surgery is essentially the same as it was before, nor did he feel the need to do any life-affirming actions either. "I had no 'Hey, I'm going to wrestle a bear,' feelings. I saw this more of an opporitunity to be the face of guys going through the same thing. It was a wonderful Christmas to know that I came through in the clear. That was gift enough but to turn it around and pass on the positive experience. That's the gift, that's what I'm taking away from all this."