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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 kanker prostat 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 kanker prostat 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," he told Selamat pagi 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 tuan rumahMichael 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, campur tangan dengan beberapa cinta yang sangat membutuhkan. "Pada titik tertentu, Connie dan aku datang ke ujung kaki," kata Tash kepada Strahan. "Dia pada dasarnya mengirim pesan kepada saya dengan jelas bahwa dia tidak akan mematuhi ini. Dia telah berinvestasi dalam diriku dan hubungan dan kesehatanku, dan benar-benar semacam memberiku ultimatum yang aku perlu diluruskan," kenangnya.

Tesh mengatakan dia menerima pesan itu dengan keras dan jelas, dan itu membantunya memfokuskan kembali menemukan cara yang lebih positif untuk mengatasi. "Sejak saat itu saya menyadari bahwa saya perlu berhenti merasa kasihan pada diri saya di tengah-tengah partai kasihan saya, dan perlu mulai membuat jalan melalui penderitaan," katanya. "Aku tahu itu dengan bantuan Connie dan dengan kerja sama Allah, aku bisa melihat diriku di seberangnya - dan itu sangat penting. Aku berhenti berbicara tentang diriku sebagai apasien kanker. Bersama-sama kami akan berdoa dengan pemahaman bahwa Allah menginginkan saya dengan baik, "tambah Tesh.

Hari ini, bintang itu mengatakan dia masih berjuang untuk melestarikan kesehatannya, tetapi melakukan hal itu dari tempat yang lebih positif. "Aku kembali dalam bisnis," katanyaCOPING.. "Saya masih memiliki beberapa tisu tumor, dan salah satu ginjal saya cukup banyak," dia mengakui. "Tapi itu belum menghentikanku. Aku masih pergi," katanya.

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