TLC Star Deon Derrico, 52, Says Dealing With 14 Children & His Mom’s Lung Cancer Is a Huge Mental Fight

GG was first diagnosed with lung cancer in 2014. After chemotherapy seemed to slow down the growth of her tumor, she started doing better for a bit. Sadly, however, her cancer grew to the size of a “baseball” just last year and forced her to resume treatment.

Now she deals with chemotherapy side effects that turned her world upside down. In the show’s most recent episode, GG says her doctors have told her she currently has a “very low” white blood cell count which means she is highly susceptible to infections. Understandably so, she’s scared for the future.

"It's not just the physical fight," GG reportedly says in the episode. "It's the mental fight, it's the emotional fight. I can only fight so much."

Deon, too, has been struggling. Watching his mother battle cancer is nothing short of terrifying, and he just wants her to push through and feel better.

"I'm going to be an absolute wreck if anything happens to my mother," Deon says to the producers. "But I absolutely have to put on a brave face for her and I absolutely have to put on a brave face for my children.

“I keep saying to her, 'Ma, it's okay, you're gonna get through this.’ But hell, I'm even thinking like, 'What now?'"

Sadly, GG’s low white blood cell count has forced her to live life differently. Deon explains that the side effect has left him feeling “angry” at the disease.

"With her white blood cells being so low, a simple cold could really make her sick," Deon says. "It makes me angry at cancer. She can't be around people. She can't technically be around us.”

Prioritizing Your Mental Health during a Cancer Journey

GG is not alone in describing her cancer battle as a “mental fight.” Thankfully, she has the love and support of her family to help her get through, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a hard road ahead.

Taking care of your mental health should always be a priority whether you’re facing a cancer diagnosis or not. But Dr. Scott Irwin, a psychiatrist and Director of Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, says depression and stress pose a risk to cancer care.

"Depression and stress make it harder to treat cancer," he explained. "Actually, there's data that if you have extra stress or depression that you may not recover or you have a higher risk or recurrence.

"So… in treating the depression, we're actually impacting the cancer care outcomes."

Psychologist Dr. Samantha Board discusses managing mental health long-term.

But how do we go about taking care of our mental health while living with cancer? New York-based psychologist Dr. Samantha Boardman says “flexibility” is key.

"For long-term mental health and living with cancer… flexibility is really at the core of how to manage long-term mental health," Dr. Boardman said.

Dr. Boardman suggests people with cancer ask themselves if their usual coping strategies are still helpful and if they have any sort of fixed beliefs that may be stopping them from taking positive steps forward. At the end of the day, it’s about being “realistically optimistic” and letting go of beliefs and practices that are holding you back.

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“Ask yourself to be Sherlock Holmes and trying to find sort of counter factual evidence for what you’re sometimes telling yourself,” she explained. “Because we sometimes have these iceberg beliefs about why things have occurred, or what is going to happen. We think of things as personal, pervasive or permanent.”

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Looking inward is a great way to prioritize your mental health while dealing with cancer. Asking yourself the above questions along exploring meditation techniques and practicing mindfulness can be hugely beneficial, but it’s important to reach out for help if you need it. Don’t hesitate to talk to your care team and a mental health professional if you’re struggling.

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Other ways to address your mental health struggles with help from others include the following:

• Medication, such as antidepressants: When a cancer warrior and their care team decide medication is necessary to treat a mental health issue, it's important there is a comprehensive conversation about what medication would be best for them. Looking into side effect profiles and genetic testing can help doctors make medication decisions. "I often try to choose medications with the lowest side effect profile," Dr. Irwin said. "If patients are getting hormonal therapy, there's particular antidepressants that we can't use because they may lower the effectiveness of that hormonal therapy and so we choose antidepressants that don't impact the cancer care."

• Talking with a therapist: "People that are struggling with coping with the experience, coping with body image should reach out to their doctors, find a therapist in the community," says Dr. Irwin.

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• Joining a support group: Gynecologic Oncologist Dr. Amy McNally encourages her patients to consider joining support groups: "You don't have to share a thing. You can just sit and listen or you can be part of the conversation and offer your thoughts. And it can be different every time you go"

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