James Van Der Beek surprised fans around the world last month when he announced he'd been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Rather than let his current health battle hold him back, the Dawson's Creek star is using the fight to change his outlook on life and how he approaches situations with a fresh set of eyes.
Van Der Beek stopped by Good Morning America on Dec. 3 to open up about how life has been so far since going public with his news.
"I knew as soon as I got diagnosed, I knew, 'Alright, this is going to add many happy years to my life. I'm going to make changes that I never would've made otherwise that I'm going to look back on in 30 years and say, "Thank God this happened." So, what can I do right now in order to make that the case?'" he explained of his initial thought process.
"That's how I was about 90 percent of the time. I would say about 10 percent of the time I was a sobbing, terrified mess, which I feel like is a pretty good percentage," he continued, chuckling.
He's also learned to advocate for himself more both at the doctor's office and in everyday life. "It's been an exercise in just being present in all of it and really just allowing the fear to come up and look at it, and also say, 'Alright, why is this in my prescription? Why are all these emotions coming up? And how can this be great for me?" he said.
Related: James Van Der Beek, 47, Reveals Cancer Diagnosis
Van Der Beek went on to share why he kept his health status under wraps for a while before. Unfortunately, his hand was forced in revealing his diagnosis, but he wasn't entirely unprepared for what was to come.
"I had a tabloid call and say 'We have the story and we're running with it,'" he remembered. "Fortunately, I had started to put some of the wheels in motion about how I would talk about it." He signed on to do Fox's forthcoming The Real Full Monty special in which he and other heartthrob stars like Taye Diggs and Tyler Posey will be stripping down to raise awareness for prostate, testicular, and colorectal cancer testing and research; it was on that set among that support system that he decided to start sharing the news with people.
"Having been in the public eye as long as I have, as soon as this happened, I thought, 'You know what? I think there's going to be a purpose to this,'" he concluded. "I think by sharing this I can do some good, especially my type of cancer, [which] is twice as prevalent as it was in the '90s."
The Real Full Monty airs Dec. 9 on Fox and streams the next day on Hulu.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/tCUiDRz
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