‘All My Children’ Alum Says He Has Kidney Cancer

Actor Cameron Mathison is asking for prayers and positive thoughts as he battles kidney cancer.

The former soap opera star and Hallmark Channel host revealed on social media that he was diagnosed last month with renal cell carcinoma after an MRI for “some gut issues.”

“The good news is that it hasn’t spread to any other organs,” Mathison said in the post. “They say my healthy lifestyle and diet has no doubt helped keep it from growing and spreading to other areas, as doctors think it’s been growing in me for minimum 10 years.” 

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I have a health situation that I want to share with you all🙏🏼 There are many reasons I love social media, staying connected with you all, sharing fun experiences... well this time I’m asking for your help. About a month ago, I had an MRI for some gut issues I’ve been having, and during that MRI they found a tumor on my right kidney. It’s consistent with Renal Cell Carcinoma ... or kidney cancer. The good news is that it hasn’t spread to any other organs🙏🏼 They say my healthy lifestyle and diet has no doubt helped keep it from growing and spreading to other areas, as doctors think it’s been growing in me for minimum 10 years🙏🏼. I am extremely lucky that we found it early. Thank you to my longtime friend and urologist @jon_giddens who has helped me tremendously through this process. Vanessa, Lucas and Leila have been absolutely amazing with their love and support... as have my mom, dad, brother, and everyone at Home and Family, Hallmark, and ET❤️ My surgery is scheduled on September 12th, I was hoping to receive positive thoughts, prayers, or whatever you feel comfortable with, on 9/12 (my surgery is at 1pm PST) 🙏🏼 I announced this on @homeandfamilytv yesterday, and wanted to make sure I posted about it here as well. Feeling very grateful and optimistic!! 💪🏼🙏🏼❤️ #thankyou yes

A post shared by Cameron Mathison (@cameronmathison) on Sep 10, 2019 at 5:01am PDT

While living a healthy lifestyle does increase Mathison’s likelihood of a good surgical outcome and recovery, it most likely had no effect on his diagnosis. “There is no data that lifestyle, diet or other medical issues can or does slow the progression of kidney cancer,” said Moffitt Cancer Center genitourinary surgeon Dr. Brandon Manley.

Mathison’s next step is surgery. “[He] was fortunate he was diagnosed at a stage where the cancer was confined to the kidney, which portends a favorable prognosis often curable with surgery management,” said Moffitt genitourinary surgeon Dr. Philippe Spiess.

Early-stage kidney cancer can be hard to diagnose because of lack of symptoms. The most common symptoms are blood in the urine, persistent abdominal pain and unexplained weight loss or fatigue.

While some renal cell carcinoma tumors are slow-growing, others can grow quickly. Manley says that most kidney cancers, especially small renal masses, are found incidentally during scans for other issues.

Mathison says he is feeling “very grateful and optimistic” moving forward in his treatment.