Former TV host and Emmy-winning musician John Tesh is opening up about his battle with prostate cancer over the last 10 years, and in a new interview with "Good Morning America," Tesh credited his wife, actress Connie Sellecca, for saving his life.
"I'm incredibly grateful, because it has been literally a 10-and-a-half-year journey [from] when I was first diagnosed in 2015," Tesh, 73, said.
Tesh was 63 when doctors diagnosed him with a rare and aggressive form of prostate cancer and estimated he might live for only about 18 months more.
"The doctors said, 'You should probably get your affairs in order because we can't operate on this,'" Tesh recalled.
According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the second-most common cancer in men and the second-leading cause of cancer death for men in the U.S. after lung cancer.
Medical experts recommend that men 55 to 69 talk to their doctors about screening for prostate cancer.
"I just was like, 'OK, this is over.' And so, there was some tears. It's like getting a brick in the face," said Tesh. "And my wife, who is a faith-filled Italian girl from the Bronx, just rose up, and she [said] that 'this is not us.'"
Tesh said Selleca, whom he married in 1992 and who was a leading actress in 1980s TV shows such as "The Greatest American Hero," connected him with leading doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and also shared a sense of perspective and positivity that pushed him to continue fighting.
"It breaks couples apart, prostate cancer, and it almost did us," Tesh said. "I was not behaving. I was drinking too much, and when you're a terminal patient, you can get any meds you want, and so, I was -- Connie calls it -- I was in the middle of a pity party, and so she just said, 'Come on, snap out of it,' and she wasn't having any of it."
"The expectation that I was gonna live as long as my Aunt Omegene, which is 100 years old, it was a battle, and it was a couple's battle, and we've won it," Tesh added.
After a decade, Tesh is still living with prostate cancer, but he said his condition is stable.
Tesh said he can also spend time with his three grandchildren and even released a new album of sports-themed music this year.
Through it all, Tesh said Selleca has been his rock, and he wouldn't be here without her.
"I'm able to look back at the things that have happened in my marriage and look at the strength that Connie imparted to me. If you unplug that piece from my journey, I'm not here," Tesh said.
