Tatum Fisher is the 11-year-old daughter of Derek Fisher and for five years, she went through a battle of cancer and follow-ups. Her journey to become cancer-free caused a lot of stress with her family, but she was ultimately cured and Fisher says there almost no chance that his daughter’s cancer will return.
In an interview with People, Fisher opened up about when his then-wife Candace let him know that something was wrong with their daughter. Upon taking Tatum to a specialist, she was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, which is a rare form of cancer that develops rapidly and is usually found in children. Fisher remembered the experience, telling People:
The fear is that the cancer will travel from the retina to the brain, but they told us there was a chance to keep the eye with aggressive treatment … It was so challenging to watch her suffer and go through all of the scans and the number of times they had to take her blood and find a vein for an IV. I felt helpless as a dad watching her be so uncomfortable and in so much pain. I felt like there should have been more I could do so she wouldn’t feel the pain and be in discomfort, but I knew it was something she had to go through to get cured.
In order to get his daughter the best treatment, he dropped a multi-million-dollar contract and Fisher’s family relocated so that Tatum could be treated at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. When talking about his decision, Fisher explained:
Ultimately, the decision was easy once I decided my child and my family came first and what was best for the team and what people were going to think was irrelevant. It just became what I felt like any father would do in a situation where they want to make sure their child is getting the best care possible. If that means you have to leave your job, if that means you have to take a hit financially, that’s what you do and you figure the rest out later … It definitely caused stress because that was our financial security that was basically gone. But we just had to have faith that things were going to work out …
Today, Tatum Fisher has 50% vision in the affected eye.
Going through this cancer battle, Derek Fisher had his ex-wife Candace at his side, as the two were married from 2005 until 2016. Unfortunately, in 2015, TMZ reports that Candace was served with divorce papers and that she felt “blindsided”. Derek Fisher filed for divorce just one month after celebrating his 10th anniversary with Candace.
Together, the ex-couple has four children, including daughter Tatum.
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Derek Fisher’s Daughter Tatum With Ex-Wife Candace