Mike Jerrick Receives Possible Skin Cancer Diagnosis Live on Air

The 74-year-old news anchor, who is already a cancer survivor, was hosting "Good Morning Philadelphia" on Fox29 when a dermatologist pointed to a spot on his skin that might be cancerous.

Mike Jerrick was left in shock when Dr. Joanna Walker made a likely diagnosis of skin cancer. Walker, who was sitting next to Jerrick, examined a specific area on his arm using a device.

"This is a basal cell skin cancer. That has all the features of the most common type of skin cancer," she told Jerrick. Walker is affiliated with the Tara Miller Melanoma Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, basal cell carcinoma typically appears as a raised bump on the skin that may be shiny and have small blood vessels across the surface. Walker assured Jerrick that it is "slow-growing" and "very treatable" when detected early.

"What are you going to do to it? Burn it off?" Jerrick asked. "This one probably needs to be cut and stitched," Walker replied. "What!? And then stitch me up?" Jerrick asked.

"This one is a very slow growing type of skin cancer. It's not going to spread to anywhere else on your body, but it needs to be removed so it doesn't keep growing and taking over normal skin," Walker explained.

Jerrick admitted he was taken aback by the discovery and said he would follow Walker's advice to book an appointment and get checked.

In July 2024, the longtime TV host revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and had undergone surgery to treat it. In May of this year, he rang the bell at Penn Medicine's Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine as the disease had gone into remission.