The Young and the Restless icon Eric Braeden stunned the TV world when he announced that he'd been diagnosed with cancer during a Facebook Live session last April.
During an emotional video, Braeden explained how an enlarged prostate led to a bladder cancer diagnosis -- something he had to seek on his own when his symptoms became unbearable, and he was unable to urinate.
"I hate to be this personal," Braeden said in his video last year. "But I think this may be good for some older guys who may or may not listen to this."
That's a sentiment that Braeden reiterated in an interview with CBS Los Angeles that aired on February 17. He relayed the story of his older brother, who had a harder time with bladder cancer than he did.
"My eldest brother turned 90 now. He had his bladder removed eleven years ago," the actor explained. "He discovered cancer too late, and it penetrated the muscle wall of the bladder."
Thankfully, by August, the actor, who has thrilled fans as the great Victor Newman since 1980, happily announced in another Facebook video that he was cancer-free.
"I can tell you it obviously has helped because I had my last cystoscopy two days ago -- that's when they thread a camera into your bladder -- and I am cancer-free." (This video seems to have been deleted from his Facebook.)
How he got there is a testament to medical advances and a discovery that a tuberculosis vaccine called BCG could be re-purposed as a cancer treatment. "Someone found out you could fight bladder cancer with it in the early stages. It arouses your own immune system," he said in the CBS Los Angeles interview.
When asked if he kept working during his cancer treatment, Braeden enthusiastically replied, "Yes, you bet," before delivering an important message to his male fans, essentially warning men not to let their pride get in the way of their health. "As a man, you're used to saying, 'Oh, to hell with it.' With me, it had to get so bad that I literally could not pee," Braeden said. "Have it examined early. The more you do things prophylactically, the less complicated the treatment becomes."
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