Featured Image Credit: Andrew Toth/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, US News, Cancer, Bowel cancer
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Celebrity, US News, Cancer, Bowel cancer
Back in November, whilst bravely breaking the news that he'd been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, James Van Der Beek was simultaneously forced to issue a heartfelt apology.
PEOPLE were the first to report on the actor's ailing health, after he told the publication in a 3 November statement: "I’ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it.
"With the support of my incredible family."
Hours later, the Dawson's Creek actor shared a longer, more personal message online, admitting he'd been left heartbroken by the news, which came after he'd taken a step back from the spotlight.
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Taking to Instagram, Van Der Beek shared an emotional video collation, in which he could be seen both posing and playing with his six children.
"It is cancer..." he began in the caption. "Each year, approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis. And I’m one of them."
The 48-year-old went on to issue a sincere apology to any loved ones who'd learned of his cancer battle through the press, admitting he would like to have taken a different approach.
"There’s no playbook for how announce these things," Van Der Beek went on. "But I’d planned on talking about it at length with People magazine at some point soon… to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms.
"But that plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news."
The TV star - also known for his appearance in nostalgic hits like Varsity Blues and Texas Ranger - went on to explain: "I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before.
"I’m in a good place and feeling strong. It’s been quite the initiation, and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready."
Again, Van Der Beek went on to apologise 'to all the people in my life who I’d planned on telling myself'.
"Nothing about this process has occurred on my preferred timeline…" he continued. "But we roll with it, taking each surprise as a signpost, pointing us toward a greater destiny than we would have discovered without divine intervention."
Since first announcing his diagnosis, the actor has used his platform in a bid to raise awareness of some of the lesser-known, or most commonly-ignored, symptoms of colorectal cancer.
"There wasn’t any red flag or something glaring," he told Healthline this week "I was healthy. I was doing the cold plunge. I was in amazing cardiovascular shape, and I had stage 3 cancer, and I had no idea.
"Before my diagnosis, I didn’t know much about colorectal cancer. I didn’t even realise the screening age dropped to 45; I thought it was still 50."
Van Der Beek went on to admit that despite suffering with changes to his bowel movements during the early stages of the disease taking hold, he initially brushed off the symptom, putting it down to caffeine consumption instead.
He recalled: "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'."
Since undergoing a colonoscopy and receiving his official diagnosis, he has continued issuing advice to fellow colorectal cancer sufferers.
"Find out who you can lean on and ask for help," he urged. "Really find who your people are and reach out. You can’t do this alone.
"That was the biggest [challenge] for me because I never asked for help.
"And what I realized was just how many people were there to show up for me, how I’d been wronging them of the opportunity to show up because I try to do everything all the time."