COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Bob Nunnally knows the difference between himself and the superhero characters whose adventures he loves to read.
"Superman and Batman are, like, they're over 80 years old now," he said this week. But unlike the rest of us, "They don't age."
Then again, he’s done something that not all superheroes can say they’ve done.
Nunnally was a fixture on NBC4 delivering weather forecasts for parts of four decades, until a cancer diagnosis in 2022 made him take time off to focus on fighting the disease and then recovering. Now, he's sharing how that process has gone and about an event that's taking place Saturday to benefit him.
"I'm cancer-free," Nunnally said, revealing for the first time that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
"My recovery has just been slow and start/stop, start/stop. It's just like, I feel a little bit better and then I have a setback of some sort. … I thought [when] I had the surgery, which I knew would be long, I'd be back to work in a few months.
"Well, you can see that didn't work out."
The cancer was discovered before it could spread to other parts of Nunnally's body. But the prognosis was frightening. Johns Hopkins Hospital reports the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 12%, but if it’s caught early enough, up to 10% will end up free of the disease.
"I met people who had also survived pancreatic cancer," Nunnally said. "I thought to myself, well, we don't hear about this enough. It isn't automatically saying that this is the end."
As Nunnally has continued with his long recovery, working on mobility and putting back on lost pounds, he realized his home had become filled with things he no longer needed. Years ago, Nunnally's father had introduced him to comic books, but he decided the time had come to downsize his massive collection. He reached out to his favorite shop, Laughing Ogre Comics in Clintonville, and it agreed to host a sale.
Included among Nunnally's collection are Incredible Hulk Nos. 180 and 181, the first appearances of Wolverine from 1976; the first issue of The Boys from 2006, now a television series about to enter its fourth season; and all four issues of JLA/Avengers, a 2003-04 crossover featuring DC and Marvel's top heroes.
To have a sale by this weekend, the people at Laughing Ogre priced only part of his collection. There are still many more boxes to go.
"My entire life, I've been collecting comics," Nunnally said. "I just enjoyed reading them … but there are some that over the years, they have appreciated because it's like any other collectible."
Proceeds will help Nunnally with medical bills.
"There's a lot to going into the hospital and treatment that you don't think about, even if you have good insurance like we do," he said.
Most of all, Nunnally said through his diagnosis and recovery that he has been moved by the cards, letters and online comments he has seen from the many people who woke up to him year after year on NBC4 Today.
"I appreciate the prayers, and I appreciate the cards and the notes," he said. "Sometimes the days, it's so hard because I'm not where I want to be. And I get those little notes, or I get a card from someone or a little something on Facebook, and it just makes me feel that much better. "
To leave a message of encouragement for Bob, visit NBC4’s Facebook page.
The sale benefiting him will take place at Laughing Ogre Comics, 4258 N. High St., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
