Fred Toucher Is Back On Air, Reveals Diagnosis Caught By Listener

BOSTON, MA — Fred Toucher, co-host of 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich radio show, is back on the air after a monthlong leave of absence due to a medical issue that was caught by a listener.

At the start of Thursday's show, Toucher revealed he had been diagnosed with leukoplakia, a condition that causes thick, white patches in the mouth and throat that can develop into cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The condition can be caused by chewing tobacco, heavy smoking, and alcohol use and requires frequent doctor's follow-ups in order to watch for potentially-dangerous developments.

Toucher explained that he ignored what were clear issues with his voice for a long time before he sought medical treatment. In an April 6 tweet, Toucher said that thanks to a listener who "got him in," he was seeing Adele's and Steven Tyler's voice doctor, Steven Zeitels at Mass General, the following day.

“So I go in there, and they put the tube down your nose, and he starts poking around like, “You’re throat has blown up,’’ Toucher recalled on air Thursday.

The doctor found a mass on Toucher's vocal cords that he believed was cancerous, but due to extreme swelling, could not operate right away, Toucher said. Zeitels told Toucher not to talk for two weeks and to quit smoking, then to get back to him.

When Toucher—who had been smoking since he was 11 years old—returned, the doctor told him his throat looked much better. Soon, he had the procedure which removed the leukoplakia.

Toucher's big return show was notably missing co-host Rich Shertenlieb. In a series of tweets in late April, Toucher accused Shertenlieb and other show staff of failing to support him during his absence but later issued a public apology to Shertenlieb.

"The last few weeks have been the scariest of my life," Toucher wrote in a May 5 tweet. "That being said, I must apologize to my partner, Rich. The truth is he did reach out during my medical leave a number of times and even went so far as to offer his connections at Dana Farber."

On Thursday's show, Toucher reiterated his apology to Shertenlieb and his other coworkers.

“[The tweets were] completely unfair,’’ Toucher said. “I talked to Jon, I talked to Rich, [he] had offered his connections at Dana Farber [Shertenlieb’s wife, Mary, is a cancer survivor], he had offered these things. In retrospect, it was a stupid thing to do. … I was sitting home scared of all this happening, not that this is an excuse. So there you go.”

Toucher joined forces with Shertenlieb to launch their own radio program on WBCN in Boston in 2006 after their stints working at 99x in Atlanta, according to 98.5 The Sports Hub's website. The show moved to 98.5 The Sports Hub in 2009 once WBCN shuttered, and is now considered one of the most successful radio programs in New England.