Good Lifestyle

A jack-of-all-trades in the world of entertainment, John Tesh is a pianist, pop music composer, radio host, and television presenter. He's won six Emmys and released four gold albums, been nominated for two Grammy Awards, and even scored an Associated Press award for investigative journalism—an enviable career by any standard. But in 2015, the star was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer and told he had just 18 months to live. Beating the odds, Tesh overcame the disease and resumed his life. However, his cancer came back in 2020—this time bringing new and surprising symptoms and challenges. Read on to find out how he learned his cancer had returned, and how he's learned to cope with the help of his wife and his faith.

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Before his prostate cancer diagnosis, Tesh says he was happy and healthy. "I was sort of going merrily along in my life," he toldCoping with Cancer Magazine in 2021. "[I was] 63 years old, had two grandkids, and I had done some stuff in my life I was happy with," he recalled. But when the entertainer visited his doctor's office for his annual check-up, his doctor noticed something suspicious during a digital rectal exam.

A test that measures the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood came back within normal range, as did Tesh's other bloodwork. (High levels of PSA may indicate the presence of prostate cancer, although other conditions can also cause heightened PSA.) Still, his healthcare team followed up with a sonogram and biopsy to be on the safe side. These tests revealed that Tesh was suffering from a rare form of aggressive prostate cancer. Doctors told the star that he had just 18 months to live, and advised him to get his affairs in order.

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Fortunately, Tesh outlived that original prognosis—but five years after his original diagnosis, the cancer returned. Though he had already been through one harrowing health episode, he still initially dismissed the symptoms, attributing them to his age. "In October of 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, all of a sudden I started feeling some really serious pain in my pelvis," sinabi niyaGood Morning America in 2021. "I thought, at my age, maybe I just pulled a groin muscle. I started ignoring it. But then it got worse and worse and I couldn't sleep," he shared.

Doctors quickly determined that these symptoms were not to be ignored. "I went for a scan and it turned out that the cancer had returned with a vengeance. The scans showed that there were tumors wrapped around my pelvis, and one of them was strangling my right kidney, so it got serious really quickly," he explained.

After his initial diagnosis in 2015, Tesh underwent a prostatectomy to remove his entire prostate. That was followed by androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a form of hormone replacement therapy. The treatment came with a range of unpleasant side effects, including night sweats, insomnia, weight loss, and fatigue—but Tesh said the biggest toll it took was on his mental health. "For someone who is [being treated for prostate cancer], it's the ADT that is really life-changing. It causes a tremendous amount of depression."

As a terminal cancer patient, Tesh says pain medication was easy to come by, and he went through a dark period when he was abusing painkillers and drinking heavily. "It was a bad time. I was a bad father. I was a bad husband," Tesh told Coping.

"I fought hard in the beginning. Then when the cancer came back, it was like someone had slammed a door in my face," he told GMA host Michael Strahan. "Hope was not something that was prevalent in my life at that point."

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Tesh says that at his lowest point, his wife of 30 years, Connie Sellecca, intervened na may ilang mga kinakailangang matigas na pag-ibig. "Sa isang punto, si Connie at ako ay dumating sa daliri," sinabi ni Tesh kay Strahan. "Siya ay malinaw na nagpadala ng mensahe sa akin nang malinaw na hindi siya sumunod dito. Siya ay namuhunan sa akin at ang relasyon at ang aking kalusugan, at talagang uri ng nagbigay sa akin ng isang ultimatum na kailangan ko upang matuwid," naalaala niya.

Sinabi ni Tesh na natanggap niya ang mensaheng iyon nang malakas at malinaw, at nakatulong ito sa kanya na mag-refocus sa paghahanap ng mas maraming positibong paraan ng pagkaya. "Mula sa puntong iyon ay natanto ko na kailangan kong huminto sa damdamin para sa aking sarili sa gitna ng aking partido na awa, at kailangan upang simulan ang paggawa ng aking paraan sa pamamagitan ng pagdurusa," sabi niya. "Alam ko na sa tulong ni Connie at sa pakikipagtulungan ng Diyos, nakikita ko ang aking sarili sa kabilang panig nito-at napakahalaga. Tumigil ako sa pakikipag-usap tungkol sa sarili ko bilang isangPasyente ng kanser. Magkasama kaming manalangin na may pag-unawa na nais ng Diyos na mabuti ako, "dagdag ni Tesh.

Ngayon, sinasabi ng bituin na nakikipaglaban pa rin siya upang mapanatili ang kanyang kalusugan, ngunit ginagawa ito mula sa isang mas positibong lugar. "Ako ay bumalik sa negosyo," sinabi niyaPagkaya. "Mayroon pa akong tumor tissue, at isa sa aking mga kidney ay medyo patay," kinikilala niya. "Ngunit hindi ito tumigil sa akin. Pupunta pa rin ako," sabi niya.

Kaugnay:Ang Al Roker ay nagbabala sa lahat na gawin ito pagkatapos ng diagnosis ng kanser.