14 DAY TRIAL // Good news for all Michael Douglas fans: contrary to earlier reports, the treatment has been successful and the actor can now tell the world – via an interview with Matt Lauer – that the tumor is gone.
Douglas taped an interview with Lauer and it will air today, Tuesday, January 11, 2011. In it, People magazine reports, the actor makes the wonderful announcement: he’s cured.
However, Douglas also reveals that the past 6 months have been the most difficult and challenging in his life, but he never lost hope.
The reason he found the strength to pull through is his family’s support, everyone’s been wonderful during these trying times, he tells Lauer.
“I feel good, relieved. The tumor is gone. But, you know, I have to check out on a monthly basis now to maintain,” the veteran actor reveals.
Even so, he remains just as optimistic as he was when he first learned of the diagnosis.
“I think the odds are with the tumor gone and what I know about this particular type of cancer [is] that I’ve got it beat. I have to check out on a monthly basis now to maintain,” he explains.
“I guess there’s not a total euphoria. I’ll probably take a couple of months of getting checked out. But it’s been a wild six-month ride,” he admits.
Most of all, he relied on messages of love and support coming in from all sides to get him through the disease.
“All of a sudden the affection from my family, from my friends, and from my fans hit me at a much deeper level than I would have ever imagined before,” Douglas says.
“And it gave me a really new appreciation of just how valuable, how precious good friends are and family. And it’s not that I disregarded them before but there’s a much deeper feeling,” he adds.
The actor also tells Lauer that he’s now getting back the appetite he lost once he started chemo treatment: of the 32 pounds he lost, he’s already gained back about 12.