“The Young and The Reckless” Star Eric Braeden announced in a video on Facebook Live that he has been diagnosed with cancer.
In the emotional video, the 82-year-old actor shared the journey he took to find out that he had Pancreatic cancer. In the video, Braeden said:
“I hate to be this personal, but I think this may be good for some older guys who may or may not listen to this. It’ll happen to them. Your prostate grows as you grow older.”
Braeden was experiencing difficulty using the bathroom, and given that he was recovering from knee surgery and already at the hospital, he decided to make a stop at the urologist:
“I was close to Cedar’s [Sinai] hospital and I thought, I’ll just go to the urology department, what the hell. They may recognize me, who knows, but I’ll just try it.”
While receiving a second opinion on his cancer, Braeden received good news. The doctor told him that the cancer could be removed after a minor procedure:
“I said alright. So needless to say I was taken aback. But I was determined to deal with it. … One doesn’t really know what kind of cancer it is until they go into it.”
“After the surgery, he says, ‘I think I got it all.’ And I said, ‘Great. love it,'”
Fox News recounted the recovery routines that Braeden went through following advice from his doctor. They wrote:
Days later, the doctor read the actor’s biopsy report and told Braeden that in addition to the low-grade cancer cells in his body were also high-grade cancer cells. According to his doctor, the cancer was not believed to have “penetrated the muscle wall,” so the course of treatment would be through immunotherapy.
Once a week for six weeks, Braeden says he receives BCG treatment, which according to the American Cancer Society, “is the most common intravesical immunotherapy for treating early-stage bladder cancer. BCG is a germ that’s related to the one that causes tuberculosis (TB), but it doesn’t usually cause serious disease. When BCG is put into the bladder as a liquid through a catheter, it helps “turn on” the immune system cells there, which then attack the bladder cancer cells.”
Braeden has managed to remain in good spirits after the surgery, saying that he is grateful for his ability to continue acting and offering much-needed humor:
“I’m okay, really. It’s not bad. Hopefully, it stays that way. But every time you go [to the doctor], you cringe because they’re going to go up your you-know-what. And infuse you with that serum. But if it helps you, then to hell with it, I’ll do it. So that’s where I am right now.”
“I still am happy to be able to go work. That I enjoy. It distracts me. I love acting. I love knowing that – that I entertain people. And, yeah,” he said, getting emotional, “I love your support. Means a lot, okay?”
The featured image is a screenshot from an embedded Facebook Live video.
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