In the 1980s and through the ’90s, there was no movie villain more menacing than Dolph Lundgren. He was the antagonist to Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky in Rocky IV (1985), the foil to Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier (1992), and the main baddie to Keanu Reeves in the 1995 cult classic Johnny Mnemonic. However, for the past almost decade, he’s been battling a life-threatening enemy of his own: cancer. After a long and harrowing battle, he’s announced some good news.
About 9 years ago, Lundgren was given terrible news. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer and promptly underwent a surgery that kept him symptom-free for about 5 years. However, in 2020, he went to see a doctor in Sweden and was told he had tumors in his kidney and liver as well. He said:
“This is just the first time I’ve spoken about it. So if you can save one person’s life who was in my situation then it’s worth it, for sure. I did scans every six months. Then you do it every year and it was fine for five years. In 2020, I was back in Sweden and had some kind of acid reflux. So I did an MRI, and they found that there were a few more tumors around that area.”
The prognosis? About 2-3 years. In an Instagram post, Lundgren revealed how he felt when he heard that news. He thought: “I’ve had a great life. I’ve lived like five lifetimes in one. So it wasn’t like I felt bitter but I felt sorry for my kids and my fiancé.”
In a medical gown and cap, he shared in a short video that he was in a hospital bed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and “about to go in and get rid of that last dead tumor. Since there are no cancer cells in my body anymore, then I guess I’ll be cancer-free, so I’m looking forward to this procedure.”
He called the whole experience a “rough ride” that taught him how to “live in the moment and enjoy every moment of life.” How did things turn around for him? Lundgren went to get a second opinion from Dr. Alexandra Drakaki, an oncologist at the UCLA Medical Center. She told the Expendables star to try a more recently developed treatment.
Lundgren took on the treatment while filming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Expendables 4, and he said it was so successful that his tumors shrank by a staggering 90 percent. The famous actor’s news was shared with glee from his fans around the world. One X user said they knew there was no way a puny thing like cancer could take him down.
It helps to reinforce the Lundgren legend that he is indeed not made of earthly material but is actually composed of something else entirely.
Others expressed their lack of doubt that this silver screen muscle man would ever be taken out by something like that.
Hopefully we’ll get to see Lundgren and his menacing toughness in movies for hopefully decades to come. Now, isn’t it about time for one more Expendables sequel?
Published: Nov 29, 2024 06:06 am