Arrow and Dexter star David Ramsey revealed he’s a “survivor” of testicular cancer.
When asked to share how he learned about his cancer diagnosis, Ramsey, 54, explained on the Tuesday, February 17, episode of the “Inside of You” podcast that he hadn’t spoken publicly about his health battle at length before.
“I mean, listen, there’s a part of my personality that’s, in general, a little more, kind of, laid back and ‘Hey, as it comes it comes and I’m enjoying it. I love it. Period, no problem.’ That’s how I see the world and it’s worked for me. I think that’s kind of reflected in me not really sharing the story,” he said. “Not that I don’t want to, it’s just not really my personality. Now, in more recent years, there’s an uptick in testicular cancer, there’s an uptick in cancer in general, and I should talk about this more.”
He continued, “So, getting back to how it all happened, I was kickboxing a lot and one of the testes was significantly smaller than the other. Now that’s true no matter what. They’re not the same. It’s like the side of your face, right? They don’t match, right? So that’s real no matter what. But one was significant. So I went to the doctor.”
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Ramsey shared that after his ultrasound, four doctors entered the room. At that point, he knew something was wrong.
“It was a watch and advise for the next 10 years,” Ramsey said of the feedback, adding that he was 28 years old at the time.
He continued, “It’s funny man, because it’s like, ‘Do you want to take the testicle right now?’ Because what they saw, they don’t know what it was. They saw something called microlithiasis. Anyone that’s kind of gone through testicular cancer will understand that. That’s present if there’s cancer but it can be present without cancer. So, they’re watching.”
Ramsey noted that about eight and a half years later, one day “it was the size of [his] fist,” adding that it happened “out of the blue” but that it was “never painful.” He went to the doctor and was told they had to remove his testicle before undergoing chemotherapy.
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When asked how “hard” chemotherapy was, Ramsey replied, “What was tougher was seeing the other kids in there going through it.”
He continued, “You’re sitting right there and you’re kind of locked in, you’re kind of getting the stuff pumped into you and you’ve got your laptop or whatever and you’re looking to some kid who has no hair and he’s 12 years old and his mother is right there next to him. And there’s another kid and then there’s a man who’s 70 and it’s just kind of like, ‘I’m alright.’ You know what I mean? I’m alright.”
For Ramsey, perspective is “everything” in his life. “At least in my life, that’s changed everything. It was always that way. You go back to the acting and like, ‘Oh, you know, you’re guest starring and now it’s my time.’ It’s just not my perspective. My perspective is, ‘This is f***ing awesome, bro,’” he said. “That’s always my perspective. All the time.”
