ESPN’s Dick Vitale will be unable to finish the college basketball season, a decision that is not due to his ongoing cancer treatment.
Vitale said Monday that he will take the rest of the season off to rest his voice in preparation for a surgical procedure to remove precancerous dysplasia and ulcers on his vocal cords. The vocal cord issue, which he disclosed late last month, is unrelated to his ongoing battle with lymphoma and is not considered life-threatening.
Vitale has been resting his voice since the diagnosis and he says doing so has helped reduce inflammation on his vocal cords by 60 percent. His voice needs to heal further before his doctor sets a surgery date, thus necessitating he miss the rest of the season.
The past twelve months have been exceedingly difficult for Vitale, who was diagnosed with two separate forms of cancer last year. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy to treat lymphoma and says his doctors have told him he is progressing positively.
Vitale, who has been with ESPN since its first months on the air in 1979, said he expects to return for next season. Due to his cancer treatments and this vocal cord issue, he only called a handful of games this season.
Prior to this season, Vitale missed several weeks in 2007 after surgery to remove ulcers on his vocal cords.
[News from ESPN]
