When he was diagnosed at 35 with a rare form of blood cancer, CD20-positive Hodgkin's lymphoma, Ethan Zohn drew strength from “Survivor: Africa,” the reality-TV competition he won eight years earlier.
“On Survivor, you push yourself to the max, and then you have to go even further. Coming into cancer I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ve suffered before. I know this is going to suck, but I’ve been here before,” Zohn shared in a recent interview with Parade.
Read More“I’m not the 27-year-old anymore,” Zahn says of competing today. “I'm now playing with the fact that I've had to go through cancer and stem cell treatment twice,” he told Parade. ” I don't think anyone has had the health challenges that I've had going out there. I was a little nervous..to be honest.”
On this year’s World Cancer Day (Feb. 4), Zohn shared a throwback photo taken during his treatment. “Here’s to all the fighters and survivors, families and caregivers, doctors and nurses, researchers and researchers and fundraisers that are helping to vote cancer off the planet. I’m thankful to be in remission eight years.”
Ethan Zahn’s Cancer Journey
Zohn was 27 when "Survivor: Africa," the show he won, aired in 2002. Some eight years later, he was training for the New York City Marathon when he experienced, he told SurvivorNet, "debilitatingly itchy skin." He went to his doctor, and soon learned he had an early symptom of Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Zohn went through chemotherapy, radiation and two stem cell transplants. Ultimately, he says, it was an experimental drug that saved his life. But the anxiety of not knowing if and when his cancer will return soon became an ongoing challenge. Anxiety, depression, and loneliness became constants.
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Zohn said he eventually tried medical cannabis and that it helped him enormously. "This first helped while I was going through cancer," Zohn shared. "I could eat, I could go to sleep. … And then post-cancer, it really helps me with my anxiety. The cancer stuff is always in the back of mind, and the cannabis kind of helped free me from that so I could start feeling like myself and living without so many fears.
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