James Pickens Jr., a longtime star on “Grey’s Anatomy,” said he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“It’s not the kind of news that anyone wants to hear, but to be honest, prostate cancer runs in my family,” Pickens said in an interview with Black Health Matters. “My father had it. He had a lot of brothers and some of them had it. I would have been surprised if I didn’t have it.”
Fortunately, Pickens doesn’t know anyone who has died from the disease.
“I have a 90-year-old cousin who is still alive. He actually had the disease,” he explained. “His son has it too. Several of his brothers have it too. As far as I know, none of them have.”
Pickens starred as Dr. Richard Webber for all 22 seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy.” His other television credits include “The Conners,” “Roseanne” and “The X-Files.”
After undergoing a routine PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test, Pickens’ doctor ordered him to undergo an MRI, which revealed “something suspicious.” A biopsy was then performed, which revealed the tumor. It did not spread and was quickly removed.
“We discovered it very early on, so they thought that was the best route to go,” Pickens said. “I have a rare variant that is rarely seen. They wanted to err on the side of caution and keep an eye on it. Rare enough that they wanted to make sure they crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s. But they had never seen a variant that was detected as quickly as I was.”
