Once Hollywood’s sweetheart, this actor is now selling his precious past as he battles to survive

James Van Der Beek has announced a pertinent update to his cancer diagnosis, releasing a classy statement alongside the news that the Dawson’s Creek star will be auctioning some of his career’s most cherished memorabilia to help him through this difficult time.

Van Der Beek has used his recovery mostly to get closer to his family at his home in Texas and just do everything he can to get better. But he hasn’t scaled back his public appearances. In fact, he has been using his condition to give people hope about why we’re all here. It took a while before he announced his colorectal cancer diagnosis to the world, but once he did — he shared just how humbling the experience has been for him.

Through multiple Instagram reels, Van Der Beek has been sharing how he has since learned that love isn’t just preserved as something you get back after you show “usefulness,” but something you deserve just because you’re alive. So it’s no surprise that he has since also been considering how his career legacy pales in comparison to his role as a father and a husband.

Van Der Beek released a statement to People that in part read, “I’ve been storing these treasures for years, waiting for the right time to do something with them, and with all of the recent unexpected twists and turns life has presented recently, it’s clear that the time is now.”

Dawson’s Creek fans will be the fans that are most spoilt. In the collection, there’s the famous necklace that Dawson gifted Joey to prom — estimated to bring in from mid $20,000 to $50,000 depending on how the auction goes. He’s also going to auction the clothes he wore on the pilot episode. But it won’t just be the fans of the show that will be served: Van Der Beek also plans to auction the cleats from his cult classic Varsity Blues.

Van Der Beek has been transparent that 100% of the proceeds will go toward aiding his family in covering the financial cost of battling his cancer diagnosis. The uncomfortable truth is that healthcare is very expensive in the United States. After all, both the recently concluded government shutdown and an ongoing court case about a well-orchestrated assassination in the streets of New York City stem from how unreasonably healthcare costs have grown in recent years. Van Der Beek auctioning off his career heirlooms is just the latest indicator of this disturbing trend that politicians continue to turn a blind eye to.

The good news is that there’s definitely going to be a demand for Van Der Beek’s prized possessions. After all, just recently we saw a banana taped to a wall going for $6 million, and as far as we’re concerned, that means nothing to anyone. Dawson’s Creek, however, was a sort of turning point — not just for the medium of television, but also for millennial identity — there’s a simplicity about the time. A time where your greatest concern was a date to your prom. 

The show means something to people, and they will certainly jump at the chance of preserving the show’s history and just playing a positive role in Van Der Beek’s life, considering he played the same earlier on in their lives too.