BRYANT GUMBEL REVEALS HIS BATTLE WITH LUNG CANCER!

Bryant Gumbel, the former "Today" show host and current "Real Sports" anchor, has been privately battling lung cancer.
The veteran newsman revealed Tuesday he recently underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on his lung.

"Two months ago I had cancer surgery," Gumbel, 61, told a stunned Kelly Ripa on Tuesday's "Live with Regis & Kelly."

Gumbel was filling for Regis Philbin — who recently underwent hip-replacement surgery — when Ripa pressed him for details on how he was doing in general, unaware of what was ahead.

"It's nothing to run from," Gumbel said, "It's just that I've not made it public."

"Oh my gosh, I had no idea," Ripa said.

Gumbel told Ripa doctors opened up his chest and "took a out a malignant tumor, part of my lung and some other goodies."

Gumbel said he kept the surgery quiet, even from most of his staff at HBO's "Real Sports."

"We had told a few people, we told my family, obviously," Gumbel said. "I even kept it from my staff at ‘Real Sports.' So I'm okay for the time being."

He did say he spoke to "Live" executive producer Michael Gelman before undergoing surgery.

Pressed by Ripa on how he was doing now, Gumbel said he was "okay, for the time being."

He said he was seeing his oncologist and surgeon in the next week, and he hoped he'd be cleared to play golf soon.

He said he tried to work out six days after the surgery, but that didn't go well.

"I am a bad patient," he admitted. "I was just trying to convince myself I could."

Gumbel said he wasn't inexperienced with surgery, but having his chest cracked open for the surgery was the worst he ever had.
"This one really hurts," he said. "You feel it, you really feel it."

Indeed, his illness had no impact on the production of "Real Sports," the next edition of which is set to air Dec. 22.

As for the future, Gumbel said he's fine now, but doctors can't say for sure until long after the treatments are done.

He admitted at one point he was scared going in.

"You think, maybe, this is the one," he told Ripa.