Christopher Reeve’s Son Will Reveals Testicular Cancer Diagnosis, How Wife Amanda Helped Save His Life

Will Reeve is opening up about his battle with testicular cancer after being diagnosed earlier this year.

The 34-year-old son of late Superman actor Christopher Reeve revealed that he first noticed a tender lump  while showering in April, but initially “assumed it was nothing or would go away,” he told People.

However, Will’s wife Amanda Dubin Reeve urged him to get checked out. After an ultrasound detected cancer, he underwent an orchiectomy in early May.

Further testing revealed that 95 percent of the testicular cancer found was embryonal carcinoma, an aggressive form of the disease. As a result, Will underwent a six-hour surgery on June 10 to remove dozens of lymph nodes from his abdomen. After three tested positive for cancer, he underwent two rounds of chemotherapy, finishing treatment on July 31.

As of his latest checkup on September 8, Will is cancer-free.

He credits Amanda, whom he married in January, with encouraging him to seek medical attention.

“We talk about ‘in sickness and in health,'” he said. “We got an early test of our vows, just a few months in.”

Will also revealed that he banked sperm before treatment because the newlyweds hope to have children, explaining, “while an orchiectomy doesn’t prevent natural conception, you never know, so you want to be safe.”

The health battle carried particular significance for Will given his family history. His father, Christopher, became paralyzed from the neck down following a horse-riding accident in 1995 and died in 2004 at age 52. Two years later, Will’s mother, Dana Reeve, died from lung cancer at 44.

“The irony is not lost on me that 20 years after my mom died of lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, there I was in the same building getting treated for cancer,” Will said.

“I was experiencing life as each of my parents at the same time,” he continued, explaining that being treated for cancer gave him a new understanding of what his mother experienced, while relying on Amanda, 29, helped him understand his father’s experience of being cared for by his family.

Will said his parents’ example ultimately inspired him to speak publicly about his diagnosis in the hope that doing so could help others.

“I was raised to share one’s struggles if, in doing so, that might help others,” he said.