The 84-year-old TV news anchor legend, Tom Brokaw, was reportedly seen in a wheelchair in Central Park alongside his wife. Brokaw, who retired in 2021 after working for 55 years at NBC, was diagnosed with cancer back in 2013.
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According to NewsNation, a source told the outlet about Brokaw's current state. "He was in the wheelchair, with his wife and the home health aide, being wheeled around the pond. He and his wife looked so happy. It was sweet — sad, but sweet," said the source.
Needing health aide staffers to be with him at all times is a sign of his current battle with cancer. In 2013, doctors diagnosed Brokaw with multiple myeloma. According to Mayo Clinic, this type of blood cancer forms in plasma cells, a type of white blood cells.
These cancerous plasma cells concentrate in the bone marrow, where white blood cells are produced. Complications from multiple myeloma include bone and kidney problems, infections, and anemia. The disease is treatable but incurable.
A Battle With Cancer
Brokaw talked about his cancer in his touching memoir called Never Give Up, published in 2023. "I've had a bad experience. ... I kept thinking bad things wouldn't happen to me," said Brokaw. "But as I grew older, I began to develop this condition. And what you try to do is control it as much as you can."
After his diagnosis, he continued to work for NBC for 8 more years. "I've had to change my life in some ways. I really had to give up my daily activity with NBC," he continued. "You know, I had to walk away from them as they were walking away from me. I just wasn't the same person. ... And so, for the first time in my life, I was kind of out there, you know, in a place I had never been in my life."
Brokaw started working at NBC in 1966. He eventually hosted all three NBC News programs which include Meet the Press, The Today Show, and NBC Nightly News. Brokaw anchored the latter for 22 years. Brokaw is also a published author, with books such as The Greatest Generation, A Long Way from Home, and A Lucky Life Interrupted.
