Rush Limbaugh reveals advanced lung cancer diagnosis; Megyn Kelly sends support

Rush Limbaugh revealed he has been diagnosed with an advanced lung cancer.

The longtime conservative commentator and radio host announced the news Monday on his radio show.

"This day has been one of the most difficult days in recent memory for me. I've known this moment is coming in the program. ... I'm sure that you all know by now that I really don't like talking about myself and I don't like making things about me," Limbaugh said. "I like this program to be about you and the things that matter to all of us."

"I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer," Limbaugh said, adding that his diagnosis was confirmed by "two medical institutions back on Jan. 20."

Limbaugh said he first realized something was wrong on his birthday weekend last month.

"I thought about not telling anybody; I thought about doing this without anybody knowing, because I don't like making things about me," Limbaugh said. "But there are going to be days when I'm not able to be here because I'm undergoing treatment or I'm reacting to treatment."

He added: "I hope I will be talking about this as little as necessary in the coming days, but we have a great bunch of doctors, a great team assembled we're at full speed ahead of this."

Why he's sharing the diagnosis

Limbaugh said he decided to explain what was going on in his life because he knew it would excite curiosity if he wasn't at his usual post every day.

"It’s not that I want to fool anybody, it’s just that I don’t want to burden anybody with it and I haven’t wanted to," he said. "But it is what it is. "You know me, I’m the mayor of Realville.

"This has happened, and my intention is to come here every day I can and to do this program as normally and as competently and as expertly as I do each and every day because that is the source of my greatest satisfaction professionally, personally. I’ve had so much support from family and friends during this. It’s been tremendous.”

He said he was experiencing "zero symptoms" at the moment.

"What led to shortness of breath that I thought might have been asthma or my heart. … It was not that. It was a pulmonary problem involving malignancy," he explained. "I’m going to be gone the next couple days as we figure out the treatment course of action and have further testing done. But as I said, I’m going to be there as often as I can.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Limbaugh's reps for comment.

Limbaugh just renewed his contract

Only last month Limbaugh, whose contract was due to expire later this year, renewed his deal with syndication company Premiere Radio Networks – and it was his friend President Donald Trump who shared news that it was a four-year deal.

Premiere, a division of radio giant IHeart Media, confirmed to CNN Business that Limbaugh renewed a long-term agreement, declining to comment on specific terms.

But Trump talked about it at a rally in Miami on Jan. 3, where the president launched an "Evangelicals for Trump" coalition.

"We have great people," Trump said. "Rush just signed another four-year contract. He just wants four more years, OK."

A look at Limbaugh and Trump's relationship

Trump and Limbaugh, longtime allies even before Trump ran for president, were seen eating lunch and chatting with others at Trump's West Palm Beach golf club just before Christmas.

The two occasionally golf together in Florida: Limbaugh's show has aired live from his home studio in West Palm Beach since 1996.

But he is not always on Trump's side: In October 2017, he expressed doubts about Trump's effort to use the power of the presidency to demand the NFL force players to stand for the national anthem.

"Trump is in the right, don’t misunderstand," Limbaugh said on his show. "But no president should have dictatorial power over individual behavior. A president should not be able to tell the owners of a business how their employees are gonna act and what they’re gonna swear allegiance to and all that."

Conservative politicians and TV personalities offer support

Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News anchor, encouraged Limbaugh to "fight."

"Just heard the news about Rush Limbaugh, a man who loves this country and his listeners dearly, and is a tireless warrior for things he holds dear," she tweeted Monday. "Wishing him strength and tenacity as he takes on this new battle w/advanced lung cancer. Do what you do so well, Rush - FIGHT."

On Twitter, Vice President Mike Pence wished Limbaugh a "swift recovery" and called him a "National Treasure who has made a difference on the airwaves of America for 30 years."

Fellow conservative talk-radio host Michael Koolidge was shocked at the news of Limbaugh's diagnosis. He tweeted and included a hashtag representing one of Limbaugh's nicknames, "El Rushbo."

"Awful to hear Rush announce that he has advanced lung cancer live on the air. I honestly can't imagine daily life without his voice. Prayers for the great #ElRushbo," tweeted Michael Koolidge, a syndicated radio host in the "Farm/Rust Belt."

The conservative host has dealt with health problems in the past

Limbaugh, 69, is the leading conservative talk radio host, a star of the airwaves for more than three decades having gotten his start in the 1970s. According to Talkers, which tracks audience numbers for talk radio, Limbaugh is the most-listened to radio host in the country, with 15.5 million listeners tuning in weekly as of December 2019.

Originally from Missouri, Limbaugh comes from a family of attorneys but wanted to pursue his own dreams in radio.

He launched "The Rush Limbaugh Show" in 1988 and he was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame 10 years later in 1998, according to his website.

Limbaugh has dealt with health crises in the past, including an addiction to opioids.

In October 2003, after a story in the National Enquirer reported he was under investigation for illegally obtaining prescription drugs, he said on his show that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and planned to go to rehab for 30 days starting after that day's show.

Limbaugh said his addiction stemmed from years of severe back pain heightened by a botched surgery intended to correct those problems.

Before that, in 2001, Limbaugh told his listeners he was "100% totally deaf."

"I cannot hear television. I cannot hear music. I am, for all practical purposes, deaf – and it's happened in three months," he said on his show. He said he was diagnosed with autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) and medications failed to work.

Later that year, he received a cochlear implant on one side, which restored some of his hearing, and in 2014, he announced he was getting an implant on the other side.

Afterwards, he said, there was 100% improvement. "Coming from total deafness, it is miraculous! How can you not believe in God?" Limbaugh said in his show.