GMA host diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ cancer and opens up about grueling chemotherapy treatments
GMA host Will Reeve diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ testicular cancer and opens up about grueling chemotherapy treatments
GOOD Morning America’s Will Reeve has revealed he’s been diagnosed with cancer and described his grueling chemotherapy.
The ABC News correspondent opened up about his diagnosis and his next steps in fighting the disease on Tuesday morning’s GMA broadcast.
The journalist opened up about his diagnosis on Tuesday morning’s broadcast, and detailed his treatment effortsCredit: ABC
Will said he was diagnosed in April with testicular cancer, a growth of cells that begins in the testicles, according to the Mayo Clinic.
4The 34-year-old shared that he noticed a lump in his left testicle, and his wife Amanda Dubin, 30, whom he married in January, encouraged him to get it checked out.
After getting an ultrasound, Will learned that he had a mass in his testicle and needed to undergo an orchiectomy, a procedure to remove his testicle.
He had the surgery in early May, which led to his diagnosis of embryonal carcinoma, an aggressive form of testicular cancer typically discovered in individuals in young and middle age.
In June, Will underwent a second procedure, a retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, to remove dozens of lymph nodes to hopefully avoid the cancer spreading.
Since some of the lymph nodes found during the six-hour-long procedure were cancerous, Will said he and his doctors had to decide on his next course of treatment.
Will opted to undergo two cycles of chemotherapy to decrease the chances of his cancer returning to nearly 1 percent.
He began his first cycle in July at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, which involved two hours of chemotherapy followed by seven hours of cold capping, a treatment used to help prevent hair loss.
Will said he also experienced unpleasant side effects from the chemotherapy during the two weeks in between treatments, including bone pain, ringing ears, night sweats, blood clots, and headaches.
He successfully concluded his treatment at the end of July.
The journalist revealed that he wanted to share his cancer journey to help raise awareness of testicular cancer.
“I want folks to know that this is a thing that can happen. It’s shocking. It’s weird,” the New York City-based correspondent said.
Will said he noticed a lump on his left testicle in April and his wife, Amanda Dubin, encouraged him to get it checked outCredit: ABC
Will underwent multiple surgeries and successfully completed chemotherapy at the end of JulyCredit: ABC
“It’s slightly awkward to talk about just because of what we’re really discussing here, but that you end up okay, almost always.”
Will is unfortunately no stranger to cancer, as his mother, Dana Reeve, also underwent chemotherapy at the same hospital.
She died of lung cancer at 44 in March 2006.
Will is also the son of the late actor Christopher Reeve, famously known for playing Superman in the DC Comics films in the 1970s and 1980s.
Christopher’s over three-decade-long acting career came to an abrupt pause in 1995, when he became paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition.
He then focused primarily on advocacy for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and co-founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center until his death at 52 in 2004 from cardiac arrest.
Will is a board member of his parents’ foundation.
