Sportscaster Dick Vitale announced Tuesday he was heading to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to undergo surgery on his vocal cords.
The Tampa Bay-area local credited Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes with lifting his spirits because Vitale gets anxiety when being given anesthesia. The ESPN analyst shared a lengthy text message from Barnes, in which the coach asked God to watch over Vitale.
"Please let this surgery go smoothly and without any complications," Barnes wrote in a prayer he texted to Vitale. "We ask for a quick healing process and without pain."
Vitale, 82, is being treated for precancerous dysplasia on his vocal cords. He previously revealed he would not be appearing on ESPN for the rest of the college basketball season.
Late last year, the sports legend said he was taking a break due to vocal struggles, partially caused by inflammation in his throat. Vocal rest helped reduce that inflammation enough to allow for the surgery.
These vocal cord updates come on the heels of Vitale's larger announcement in October that he had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time, leading him to undergo lymphoma treatments at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. The more recent cancer diagnosis was not related to a previous melanoma diagnosis.
For the lymphoma, Vitale underwent chemotherapy at SMH's brand new Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute Oncology Tower. Vitale has praised the "fantastic" staff at the facility.
In November, Vitale briefly returned to the airwaves following the October cancer treatments in Sarasota. But, he stopped calling games again on Dec. 12 because of the aforementioned inflammation.
