The ABC News correspondent, 34, says he had two surgeries and chemotherapy after finding a lump in April, and that his most recent scan showed no cancer.
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| ABC News correspondent Will Reeve on the set of "Good Morning America." (Photo: Paula Lobo/ABC via Getty Images) |
ABC News correspondent Will Reeve said Tuesday that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer earlier this year and has completed treatment. Reeve, who is also a frequent contributor to "Good Morning America," shared the news on the show alongside his wife, Amanda, whom he married in January.
"Right off the top, I need everyone to know, I am OK," Reeve said at the start of the segment. He described the cancer as "in the rearview mirror." He later said that he doesn't currently have any cancer and that his latest scan brought good news. A checkup on Sept. 8 found no sign of the disease.
How the diagnosis unfolded
Reeve said he noticed a tender lump on his left testicle in April. He first assumed it was nothing, but Amanda encouraged him to get it checked. An ultrasound found a mass, and in early May he had an orchiectomy, the surgical removal of the affected testicle and the standard first step in treating testicular cancer.
Testing after the surgery showed the tumor was embryonal carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of the disease. Reeve said about 95 percent of the cancer found was of that type. The Cleveland Clinic says the outlook is good when treatment begins before the cancer has spread.
Reeve also said he banked sperm before further treatment because he and Amanda want to start a family. He noted that an orchiectomy does not prevent natural conception, but said it was a sensible precaution.
Second surgery and chemotherapy
On June 10, Reeve underwent a six-hour operation to remove dozens of lymph nodes from his abdomen, a procedure known as a retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. The goal was to stop the cancer from spreading. He spent almost a week in the hospital, which kept him from covering the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals for ABC News.
Three of the lymph nodes tested positive for cancer. Reeve said that led him to choose two rounds of chemotherapy to lower the chance of a recurrence to nearly 1%.
Chemotherapy began in early July at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Amanda was with him, and each treatment day lasted about nine hours. Chemotherapy itself took two hours, and the other seven were spent on cold capping, a method sometimes used to help prevent hair loss during chemotherapy. Reeve finished his second round on July 31 and rang the bell at the hospital to mark the end of treatment.
Between treatments, he said, he dealt with bone pain, ringing in his ears, night sweats, blood clots and headaches. He said anti-nausea medication kept him from feeling sick to his stomach. He kept working through much of the treatment, and said he took about two and a half weeks off from "GMA" to recover from the June surgery.
A family history with cancer
Reeve is the son of actor Christopher Reeve, best known for playing Superman, and actress Dana Reeve. His father was paralyzed from the neck down after a horse-riding accident when Will was 2, and the couple went on to found the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, which supports spinal cord injury research and awareness. Christopher Reeve died in 2004 at age 52. Dana Reeve, who never smoked, died of lung cancer in March 2006 at age 44, when Will was 13.
Reeve noted that his mother was treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering, the same hospital where he received his own care. He said he thought of her when he rang the bell after his final treatment.
Why he decided to speak out
Reeve said he wanted to talk about his experience to reduce the stigma around testicular cancer. "I want folks to know that this is a thing that can happen," he said, adding that people with the disease end up okay "almost always." He acknowledged that it can be an awkward subject to discuss.
He said he credits catching the problem early for his outcome, and that ignoring it or putting off a doctor's visit could have made things much worse. His advice to others is to pay attention to their bodies and lean on the people close to them.
What comes next
Reeve said he will have scans and bloodwork three to four times a year at first to watch for any return of the cancer, with the schedule easing over time. "I feel great," he said. "I think I'm the same guy that I've been."
"Good Morning America" will air more of Reeve's story on Wednesday and Thursday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on ABC. The coverage will include comments from a doctor and other cancer patients.
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