Steve Morrison talks cancer victory

ON YESTERDAY'S Preston and Steve show, longtime WMMR morning host Steve Morrison revealed that he had undergone surgery for prostate cancer. Morrison, who missed only three days of work after robotically having his prostate removed, is now cancer-free.

"Four or five hours after the surgery, I was walking around," Morrison told me. "The next day I was doing 2 or 3 miles on the treadmill."

Morrison said he decided to go public with his diagnosis because he wanted to raise awareness for the simple tests that could catch prostate cancer in its early stages.

Men, who make up a large portion of Preston and Steve's audience, often find it difficult to go to the doctor to get checked out, he said.

"We tend to just want soldier on and take it," Morrison said. "Also, guys want to be in control and you have to surrender your ego a bit. You put on a gown and you feel out of your element. The truth of the matter is, when it's framed in a way that's not you succumbing, or rolling over, it's you doing what you have to do to take care of your family, your wife, your children."

Morrison credits early detection for his relatively easy bounce back. He was diagnosed in October even though he displayed no symptoms.

"When my former doctor got sick himself - he's doing fantastically well - I made the decision that I owed it to the people around me, especially my wife, to not put myself in the situation where people are being emotionally destroyed because of what is happening with me."

Morrison kept his diagnosis on the down-low for a reason.

"I didn't want to this to be a Lifetime movie, I wanted to make it more inviting," he said. "It can make a difference. Guys, go get your series of tests. A lot of this is survivable."

He added that he did not want his cancer to cast a pall on the show's work with the annual charity event Camp Out for Hunger or on their usual morning proceedings.

Morrison told me that his quality of life postsurgery is essentially the same as it was before, and he didn't feel the need to do any life-affirming actions, either.

"I had no, 'Hey, I'm going to wrestle a bear,' feelings. I saw this more as an opportunity to be the face of guys going through the same thing," Morrison said. "It was a wonderful Christmas to know that I came through in the clear. That was gift enough, but to turn it around and pass on the positive experience, that's what I'm taking away from all this."

Marisa Brahney, of New Jersey's News 12, returned to her post yesterday. The former NBC10 reporter took a leave of absence after she announced the tragic news that she had lost her child, Charlotte Madison, shortly after the baby was born, in September. Brahney's colleagues planted a tree in Charlotte's memory.

If the Boss supports it, it has to be good, right? The Light of Day Foundation, which is dedicated to fighting Parkinson's disease and counts Bruce Springsteen as a major supporter, will host one in a series of benefit shows at Hebe Music Lounge (835 E. Route 130, Burlington, N.J.) tomorrow night. (Don't be surprised if Springsteen shows up at the main LOD gig, on Jan. 17, at Asbury Park's Paramount Theatre; he's a regular there.) The bill includes NYTROUS (co-founded by the Daily News' Chuck Darrow); Soraia; Ben Arnold; John Easdale, of Dramarama; Stonebaby; and Joe D'Urso and Stone Caravan. The show will be emceed by local rock-radio titan Michael Tearson.

For more info, go to brownpapertickets.com/event/946073.

Springfield, Delco's Bridget Fogarty will be on "Let's Make a Deal" today at 10 a.m. on CBS3, chilling with the one and only Wayne Brady.

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