Will Reeve, cancer-free after spring diagnosis, urges men: don't ignore a lump

Will Reeve walked onto the 'Good Morning America' set on Tuesday and told viewers, right away, that he was OK — then explained why he almost wasn't. The 34-year-old ABC News correspondent, son of the late actor Christopher Reeve, revealed that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of testicular cancer in the spring, underwent two surgeries and two rounds of chemotherapy over the summer, and received clean scans on September 8.

The diagnosis was a shock and the treatments were a slog. Today, though, I am relieved to announce that we arrived at our destination and this cancer is in the rearview mirror. But what a journey.— Will Reeve, ABC News correspondent

Reeve married luxury event planner Amanda Dubin in Miami in January. Three months later, he noticed a hard, tender lump in his left testicle. It was, he said on air, his wife who urged him to get it checked. An ultrasound confirmed a mass that had to come out.

In early May he underwent an orchiectomy — surgical removal of the testicle. The pathology came back as embryonal carcinoma, an aggressive subtype of testicular cancer typically found in young to middle-aged individuals, according to ABC News. What Reeve had hoped was a 'momentary frightening detour,' as Page Six reported him describing it, escalated: imaging showed cancer cells had spread to lymph nodes in his abdomen.

In June, Reeve returned to the operating table for a retroperitoneal lymph node dissection — a six-hour procedure at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City to remove dozens of lymph nodes. Because some of those nodes were cancerous, he chose to follow up with two cycles of chemotherapy, which he said would lower the odds of recurrence to nearly 1 percent, according to ABC News.

Chemotherapy began in early July. On treatment days, Reeve and his wife sat together at Sloan Kettering for nine hours: two hours of chemotherapy and seven hours of cold capping, a process that cools the scalp and constricts blood vessels to reduce hair loss. He did not lose his hair. Between treatment cycles, he endured bone pain, ringing ears, night sweats, blood clots and constant headaches. He finished his second round on July 31 and rang the bell at Sloan Kettering to mark the end of treatment.

I remember with my mom, when she got sick 20 years ago, I didn't really know that she was sick until she lost her hair. And I think anyone who has cancer or loves someone with cancer, that's sort of a tipping point when you know, oh man, this is real.— Will Reeve, ABC News correspondent

The location carried particular weight. Sloan Kettering is the same institution where his mother, Dana Reeve, died of lung cancer in March 2006 at age 44 — two years after his father, Christopher Reeve, died at 52 following complications from a 1995 horseback-riding accident that had left him paralyzed. Will Reeve said he thought of his mother especially when he was able to use cold capping, a treatment she did not have.

And to be able to look myself in the mirror every day and come here every day and be like, 'I feel good. I am good,' that was a major wind in my sails, for sure.— Will Reeve, ABC News correspondent

Reeve also drew a direct parallel between his wife's role and his mother's. Amanda Dubin sat with him through chemotherapy sessions and, he said, served as his caregiver throughout — echoing how Dana Reeve cared for Christopher Reeve through the final nine years of his life.

I learn[ed] more about what it was like to be my dad in the final nine years of his life, where he had my mom and our family taking care of him.— Will Reeve, ABC News correspondent

Dubin, for her part, called the ordeal 'early validation' that the couple can 'tackle anything' together, according to Page Six.

One concern that loomed over the diagnosis from the start was the couple's ability to have children. Reeve said he banked sperm before treatment, and that he and Dubin will be able to have children through IVF. 'We really want to be parents, and the great joy is that we are going to be able to have children, our own children,' he said on GMA.

In a People magazine interview, Reeve said he is 'going to be fine,' though it has been 'one heck of a chapter.' He framed going public as a deliberate act of advocacy, pointing out that testicular cancer is among the most treatable cancers when caught early, and urging men not to delay seeing a doctor over any lump, swelling, pain or change in a testicle.

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.— Will Reeve, ABC News correspondent

I want folks to know that this is a thing that can happen. It's shocking. It's weird. It's slightly awkward to talk about just because of what we're really discussing here, but that you end up okay, almost always.— Will Reeve, ABC News correspondent

Reeve is scheduled to share more about his experience on GMA on Wednesday and Thursday, alongside a doctor and other cancer patients, according to ABC News.

Why it matters — Reeve's decision to go public — naming symptoms, treatments and the role of a spouse's urging — gives a high-profile, step-by-step account of a cancer that is nearly always survivable when caught early but that men frequently delay reporting.

Reported by variety.com, foxnews.com, abcnews.com, hola.com, pagesix.com