“You think you’re tough, but when a doctor says cancer, that word hits differently.” He underwent surgery and treatment immediately, pushing through recovery with his usual humor. He even kept working, joking with producers between segments, hiding the exhaustion that often came after filming.
For a while, he thought he was in the clear. Then, a few months later, he discovered a lump on his neck. It turned out to be Merkel cell carcinoma—a rare, fast-spreading form of skin cancer that affects only a few thousand people a year. “I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” he said. “Two cancers in one year? That’s a tough play call to face.”
