Christopher Reeve’s son reveals devastating diagnosis at just 34
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Will Reeve, son of late Superman actor Christopher Reeve, has revealed he was diagnosed with a rare form of testicular cancer 20 years after losing both his parents.
Will, 34, received the devastating news earlier this year after discovering a tender lump on one of his testicles in the shower in April.
Will Reeve has revealed he was diagnosed with rare cancer earlier this year. Getty
Christopher Reeve was famous for his role as Superman. Warner Bros/Columbia
The Good Morning America presenter assumed the lump would eventually resolve itself but his wife Amanda, 30, urged him to get tested.
He was stunned when an ultrasound confirmed he had embryonal carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
In May, he underwent surgery to remove the affected testicle, followed by a second surgery in June to clear dozens of lymph nodes from his abdomen.
Will then did two rounds of chemotherapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York; the very same hospital where his mother died in 2006.
Actress Dana Reeve was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005 and died the following year. She was 44.
Her death was made more tragic by the fact that her husband and Will’s father, Christopher, had died less than 18 months prior.
The Superman star had been thrown from a horse in 1995 and paralysed from the neck down, forcing him to rely on a wheelchair and ventilator.
He died of heart failure in 2004, aged just 42.
Dana Reeve brushes hair from husband Christopher Reeve’s forehead at an event before their deaths. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Will was orphaned at just 13 and his cancer treatment took him right back to those final years with his parents.
“I was experiencing life as each of my parents at the same time,” he told People.
“Because I was a cancer patient at Memorial Sloan Kettering, I was getting a firsthand experience at what my mother went through.
“Simultaneously, I was learning more about what it was like to be my dad in the final nine years of his life, where he had my mum and our family taking care of him.”
Will went on to say that losing both of his parents back to back taught him what grief was and how deeply it can affect a person.
Will Reeve confirmed he is now cancer-free. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Fortunately, his own family won’t have to go through the pain of losing him.
Will was declared cancer-free earlier this month and the five-year survival rate for his cancer rangers from 74 per cent all the way up to 98 per cent.
