On August 16, Michael Douglas announced that he has stage 4 throat cancer, but the 65-year-old actor didn’t let that get him down. Instead, on his Tuesday night appearance on “The Late Night With David Letterman” show he appeared outright upbeat about his diagnosis and the chemotherapy and radiation treatments that he recently started.
Naturally, Douglas appeared more gaunt than usual but was remarkably healthy looking despite his condition. Even David Letterman complimented him on his appearance by telling him that “he never looked better”. Douglas didn’t mince words, however, as he did candidly express his struggles with the treatments.
Despite Douglas’ upbeat attitude, his wife, actress Catherine Zeta Jones, who has two children with Douglas, isn’t as pleased with the longer time it took to diagnose her husband. In fact, Douglas, according to Jones, sought every option to properly diagnose what he suspected was cancer after he began experiencing severe sore throat pain earlier this summer. He confirmed his wife’s comments on the Letterman Show, adding that he underwent a litany of tests and sought second and third opinions from a variety of doctors. Nevertheless, no one was able to properly diagnose him until one doctor biopsied the tumor on the base of his throat, and, indeed, found stage four cancer.
Thankfully, Douglas’ tumor hasn’t spread to other parts of his body and his prognosis also appears promising. However, his experience represents the growing number of people who receive no diagnosis or a wrong diagnosis at times when they are desperately searching for answers.