Dawson’s Creek’s James Van Der Beek details cancer diagnosis
James Van Der Beek has been speaking out after announcing his cancer diagnosis.
On November 3, the Dawson’s Creek star known for his role as Dawson Leery, revealed that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Now that he’s shared the news with the public, James wants to open up about his diagnosis in order to spread awareness of the disease.
In an interview with People, James explained, “That's one of the reasons I want to talk about it and the reason I'm talking about it so openly. I've been dealing with this pretty much in secret for a while, and in the past, I've found it helpful and cathartic to share things publicly”.
“And I've found a lot of support that way. But more than that, I really wanted to raise awareness”.
“I’d always associated cancer with age and with unhealthy, sedentary lifestyles. But I was in amazing cardiovascular shape. I tried to eat healthy — or as far as I knew it at the time”.
Sharing an insight into how he received his diagnosis, the 47-year-old revealed that he ‘noticed changes in his bowel movements’, and thought he might just need to change his diet.
“I thought maybe I needed to stop coffee. Or maybe not put cream in the coffee. But when I cut that out and it didn’t improve, I thought, ‘All right, I better get this checked out’”.
After later having a colonoscopy, James admitted, “I felt really good coming out of anaesthesia, that I’d finally done it. Then the gastroenterologist said – in his most pleasant bedside manner – that it was cancer. I think I went into shock”.
“The trickiest thing is there are so many unknowns with cancer. You think, ‘How do I fix this? Is this healing me? Is this hurting me? Is this working? Is it coming back?’. As someone who likes answers, not knowing is one of the hardest things”.
The dad-of-six confessed that he didn’t want to disclose what stage of recovery or remission he is in but stated, “I’m very cautiously optimistic. I’m in a place of healing, my energy levels are great”.
“When I’ve been out of the woods completely for what feels like a responsible amount of time, I’ll circle back and let you know. I have a lot to live for”.
