In January 2002, He announced that he was battling throat cancer. Since then, he has recovered largely but he lost a lot of weight going from 231 pounds (105 kg) to 190 pounds (86 kg) or even less. His voice also changed to a soft, high-pitched tone, different from his strong, rugged tone during his color commentator days. In December 2007, he had reconstructive surgery on his jaw, when the first surgery was not successful. He was placed in a medically induced coma and was slowly brought out. In February 2009, he was released from the hospital and was relearning how to speak clearly.