ATLANTA (AP) — Longtime Atlanta news anchor Monica Pearson has revealed she's been diagnosed with liver cancer.

The former WSB-TV anchor says she was diagnosed in December and had surgery in January to remove more than 50 percent of her liver. Pearson joined the WSB-TV staff in August of 1975 and retired in 2012 after 37 years with the network. She currently hosts a weekly radio program on KISS 104.1.

Pearson told WSB-TV she chose not to reveal her diagnosis until now because she didn't wanted people to pity her. Instead, she hopes her story will encourage people to go to the doctor and get checked.

This is Pearson's second battle with cancer. She overcame breast cancer in 1998 after discovering the disease during a routine mammogram.