ESPN analyst Dick Vitale says blood tests are 'very good' after his fifth cancer diagnosis

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NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime college basketball announcer Dick Vitale says he is making positive strides after announcing in April that he had been diagnosed with cancer for the fifth time.

The 87-year-old Vitale said on social media Wednesday that recent blood tests came back “very good” and that the immunotherapy treatments that he has been receiving are “very effective in wiping out the cancer.”

Vitale was first diagnosed with cancer in 2021, when he revealed that he had melanoma. He also was diagnosed with lymphoma and, after being declared cancer-free, learned in 2023 that he had vocal cord cancer. The following year, Vitale was diagnosed with lymph node cancer, and he underwent surgery to help treat it.

The mainstay of ESPN college basketball broadcasts received the Jimmy V Award for perseverance in 2022. The award is named for late college basketball coach Jim Valvano, a close friend of Vitale, who died in 1993 from adenocarcinoma. Vitale has also worked for years to raise money for The V Foundation for Cancer Research, which Valvano helped to found before his death.

Vitale appeared on ESPN a few times last season but has made no announcements about the upcoming season.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball