Best-selling author and TikTok star Hank Green announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer.
“Good news [and] bad news. One is, it’s cancer,” Green, 43, revealed in a Friday, May 19, YouTube video. “Good news is it’s something called Hodgkin’s lymphoma [and] it’s one of the most treatable cancers. It responds very well to treatment, the goal is cure [and] the procedure to get there is fairly well known if unpleasant.”
The VidCon cofounder shared that while he is “still waiting on a scan” to “confirm” details, it “seems likely that we caught mine early.” Green added that even if this particular cancer is caught later or spreads “in multiple parts of the body,” Hodgkin’s lymphoma is “still super treatable.”
The An Absolutely Remarkable Thing author explained he has “few risk factors” for lymphoma including “medication,” an “autoimmune disease” — he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2006 — and having mono as a child, which meant the disease was something he was “looking out for” and is “happy everyone took it seriously.”
The Alabama began his statement on Friday by recalling how he arrived at the diagnosis, saying, “There have been a few times over the past few weeks this has become more and more real. This is the big one though,” before recalling going to the doctor after noticing his lymph nodes were “big.”
After sharing that a biopsy confirmed the cancer, Green revealed he’d be starting a “system” of chemotherapy “very soon” that will last around four months — and is leaning on loved ones to remain optimistic.
“I have a friend, amazingly enough, who has been through a diagnosis and treatment and remission and is 10 years post with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It’s been really nice to have that in my back pocket for texting and to be like, ‘Is this normal? Am I panicking? Please tell me I’m going to be OK.’”
Hank — who shares son Orin, 6, with wife Katherine Green — noted that he will be missing this year‘s VidCon convention, which is scheduled for June 21 to July 24 in Anaheim, California. (Hank and his brother, author John Greenstarted and created teh fan meetup in July 2010.)
“I know that this sucks most for me, but I also know that it sucks for everybody in this community,” Vlogbrothers cocreator said. “So I feel like apologizing, but that would be stupid. So I’m not going to. But I think you know what I mean.”
When it comes to his online presence, the Crash Course host said that he will play it “by ear” after taking a planned break from posting. “I’m wrestling with the reality that this is now part of how people are going to imagine me. It’s an identity I’m having thrust upon,” he explained. “I want to be fun-goofy-science guy, not struggling-with-anxiety cancer guy.”
