The wife of Chadwick Boseman has revealed that he had a clear scan from cancer when Black Panther was released.
Simone Ledward Boseman spoke to Craig Melvin from TODAY, and opened up about how she felt to see her late husband being celebrated after the movie came out.
The Black Panther star first learned that he had stage 3 colon cancer in 2016, but continued acting and working despite the diagnosis.
Boseman's death from the condition in 2020 came as a massive shock, as many had not even realized that he was so ill.
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“I didn’t know that he was experiencing anything until he had already been to the doctor twice," Simone said.
"It all seemed to come about very suddenly. It was a matter of weeks that he started not feeling well."
She tearfully revealed that in 2018 her husband had a clear scan, and that the family's celebrations around the success and impact of Black Panther had also been tied in with celebrating his scan.
"It's harder to talk about the good times than it is the bad," she told Melvin.
"[Black] Panther came out in February [2018], to see how deeply, deeply, and globally impactful that film was just, I don't have any words for it."
Paying tribute to her late husband, she said: "He was so deserving of all the success, and kids are dressing up like him.
"People are buying out theaters and taking school kids to watch this film, and he's just being celebrated everywhere we go."
Explaining that they had even more reason to celebrate at the time, Simone said: "It did feel like, they didn't know we were celebrating that he had a clear scan, but we were celebrating that, too. It felt like we got another chance."
Boseman was just 43 years old when he died of colon cancer in 2020.
Colon cancer is seeing a particular increase among younger patients, which is cancer terms is anyone under the age of 50.
In the US it is estimated that there will be around 160,000 cases of the condition this year, leading to around 55,000 deaths.
The disease has seen an increase of three percent in patients under 50 since 2018.
Colon cancer is difficult to spot early as unlike other forms of cancer it doesn't exhibit obvious symptoms in its early stages, so patients are less likely to realize that something is wrong.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.
Topics: Chadwick Boseman, Celebrity, Health, Colon cancer, Cancer, US News, News
Kit Roberts