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Cameron Mathison, beloved Hallmark star, has recently opened up about his cancer status and how his health is today. The star first received his kidney cancer diagnosis in September 2019.
Cameron Mathison Has Been Cancer-Free for a Year & Said the Journey Is ‘Ongoing’
GettyCameron Mathison attends the 9th Annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards.
Mathison shared the update during a virtual fan event for Star Image Entertainment, Digital Journal reported. Mathison has thankfully been cancer-free for more than a year now. Despite the good news, he said the journey is ongoing and it’s not all over yet.
“The health journey for me is an ongoing thing,” he said during the virtual event. “I still do bloodwork all the time.”
He said that the diagnosis was challenging, but his family is supportive and amazing. He said it was growing when the cancer was first diagnosed but hadn’t spread, and he credited that to his healthy lifestyle.
He Believes the Positivity from His Fans Helped Get Him Through the Tough Times
Mathison had shared his diagnosis on Home & Family, where fans and colleagues were incredibly supportive. He said that he’s a big believer in prayer and connection, and felt that all the positivity from others helped him get through the cancer diagnosis.
Mathison said that telling his kids he had cancer was the hardest thing he’d done.
“The hardest thing in my whole life that I ever had to do was to tell my kids that I had cancer,” he said. “They were supportive, loving, and helpful, before and after.”
In September 2019, Mathison shared the news with his fans on Home and Family.
In his announcement, he said that he’d been living a healthy lifestyle for years, in part based on health concerns he’d had for a number of years. He said those concerns still weren’t making sense, so he asked his doctor for an MRI in his abdomen area. The doctors found a tumor on his right kidney consistent with renal cell carcinoma.
He had minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery to remove the tumor and he didn’t need chemo or radiation. Eight weeks after his surgery in November 2019, he went on Good Morning America to share how he was doing.
He said his family was great and handled the surgery and recovery truly well. The tumor had been growing for 8 to 12 years, he said.
Mathison said he had to advocate for himself and insist on the MRI from his doctor. “Over the years, certain things weren’t right,” he said. Tests showed a low white blood cell count and low immune function, which didn’t make sense considering how healthy he was.
He provided another update in April 2020.
He emphasized the importance of staying healthy even during lockdown.
Mathison is greatly loved in the Hallmark universe. He co-hosts Home & Family with Debbie Matenopoulos. He’s also starred in the Murder She Baked series on Hallmark. His many other credits include The Christmas Club, A Summer to Remember, Very Very Valentine, A Christmas to Remember, The Exes, My Gal Sunday, Holidaze, The Christmas Ornament, and of course his longtime role as Ryan Lavery on All My Children.