'Flip or Flop' star Tarek El Moussa is officially cancer-free — six years after his diagnosis
Tarek El Moussa is officially cancer-free — and it’s been a helluva journey.
The Flip or Flop star, 37, shared the health update on social media Thursday night. He had been battling both thyroid and testicular cancers after first being diagnosed — thanks to a viewer of his show who noticed a lump — in 2013. During his treatment, his marriage to his TV co-star, Christina, with whom he shares two children, fell apart and they divorced. She remarried in December.
“CANCER FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” is how the real estate agent and house-flipper began the post. The HGTV star went on to detail the journey, saying, “2013 was the scariest year of my life! I didn’t only get hit with one cancer..but got hit with two different cancers.”
He recalled that the production company for Flip or Flop at the start of its second season said it understood if he wanted to step back from the show. “I said thank you but no thank you let’s keep going!!!!”
A post shared by Tarek El Moussa (@therealtarekelmoussa) on Mar 14, 2019 at 6:06pm PDT
While he went on to share the thyroid cancer diagnosis with viewers, he didn’t reveal he also had testicular cancer until 2017 because he felt it was too “private” and “personal.” He decided to reveal the second health struggle after his stepfather was diagnosed with the same thing.
El Moussa “gained 50 pounds” early on from “cancer side effects, had two surgeries and went through radioactive iodine treatment. “I was very sick with terrible migraines and nauseous every day,” he recalled. “But, I told myself no matter what you can’t quit!!! It was tough but I knew deep down I had to keep going.”
He admitted, “I was very scared and suffering inside but never showed it. Looking back I should have.” (El Moussa previously said that during this health struggles, he and his wife grew “distant.” When therapy didn’t repair things, they split, rather dramatically, in 2016.)
A post shared by Tarek El Moussa (@therealtarekelmoussa) on Mar 7, 2019 at 10:39am PST
While El Moussa had been in remission from both cancers, he got the news about being cancer-free on Thursday. Saying he’s feeling “healthier than ever,” the TV star said it makes him “so happy not for me but for my babies,” referring to Taylor, 8, and Brayden, 3. “I have to be healthy and alive for them!!” he wrote, noting he was tearing up writing the words. “They are my everything and they need their daddy! This news is so good because I’m alive to be here for THEM!!”
He went on to thank fans “from the bottom of my heart” — again, one literally saved his life — and signed off, “OFFICIALLY CANCER FREE- TAREK.”
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