Will Reeve, a correspondent and anchor for Good Morning America and the son of the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve, is opening up about his journey after being diagnosed with testicular cancer earlier this year.
“I was raised to share one’s struggles if, in doing so, that might help others,” he recently told People. Reeve was diagnosed in the spring, but as of a Sept. 8 check-up, he is now cancer-free.
“Watching my parents up close take the adversity they faced in their lives and repurpose it into something hopeful left a major impact on my life and how I try to live it,” the anchor said, which inspired him to share his health story publicly.
Will was two years old when his father, Christopher, was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from a horse in 1995. Nearly a decade later, Christopher died in 2004 at the age of 52, and his mother, Dana Reeve, died in 2006 at age 44 from lung cancer.
He acknowledged that he’s “had a lot happen in my life. But none of it until now had happened to me in a way.” Reeve initially found a tender lump on one of his testicles in the shower in April. While he “assumed it was nothing or would go away,” it was his wife, Amanda Dubin Reeve, who urged him to get an ultrasound.
The following month, the GMA anchor underwent an orchiectomy to remove the cancerous testicle, which is a standard surgical procedure when someone is diagnosed with testicular cancer.
“I was more nervous about the unknown of the surgery rather than the overwhelming realization that I would be losing an essential part of my body forever,” he admitted to People.
Further testing revealed that the cancer spread to the lymph nodes in his abdomen, leading him to undergo a six-hour surgery in June to remove them and then two rounds of chemotherapy that concluded at the end of July.
“The irony is not lost on me that 20 years after my mom died of lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, there I was in the same building getting treated for cancer,” Reeve shared, also praising Amanda for taking on “the role of wife and caregiver” during this difficult time, similar to how his mom cared for his dad.
After Reeve was declared cancer-free earlier this month, he’ll now have scans and bloodwork three to four times a year to monitor for any chance of cancer returning.
“My colleagues at ABC are like family to me and have been with me every step of the way,” he added. “I’m fortunate that I caught this early. Yes, I had to jump through some flaming hoops to get to the other side, but it could have been much worse had I ignored it or delayed going to the doctor.”
