Dolph Lundgren reveals 'serious' 8-year cancer battle
Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren revealed Wednesday that he has been secretly fighting cancer for eight years.
“They found a tumor … in my kidney, and they took it out here in LA in 2015,” Lundgren, 65, explained on “In Depth With Graham Bensinger.” “But then they did a biopsy — and it was cancerous.”
The Post reached out to Lundgren for comment.
“The Expendables” actor grew emotional recalling his journey. He said after the initial tumor discovery he underwent scans every six months, then every year, which he said were “fine.”
But in 2020, the “Aquaman” star began suffering what he thought was acid reflux.
It turned out to be more tumors, including one that had developed on Lundgren’s liver. He was preparing to shoot a project in Alabama at the time.
“At that point, it started to hit me that this is kind of something serious,” recalled the “Rocky IV” actor.
“The Expendables” actor said he was felled by a series of tumors. YouTube/Graham Bensinger
Lundgren said he was preparing to have the tumor removed when he received even worse news.
“The surgeon called me and said, ‘No, it’s grown now. It’s too big. We can’t take it out,'” Lundgren recounted. “It’s like the size of like a small lemon.”
Systemic therapy was the suggested treatment, which caused the actor to suffer awful side effects including diarrhea and severe weight loss.
“His mouth got really sore,” said Lundgren’s fiancée, Emma Krokdal, 25. “His hands got sore, [his] feet, and he couldn’t eat anything warm, anything cold or anything spicy.”
“So that was a struggle to get food down, so he kept losing weight,” continued Krokdal.
The “Aquaman” star said he began suffering from what he thought was acid reflux in 2020. It was more tumors. YouTube/Graham Bensinger
Lundgren admitted the hardest thing was lack of communication with his medical team.
“The doctor over there wasn’t really sharing information with us, so we didn’t really know, didn’t know what was going on,” slammed the actor.
He added: “I think now, thinking back, they probably thought, ‘Oh, I’m a lost case.'”
“The doctor over there wasn’t really sharing information with us, so we didn’t really know, didn’t know what was going on,” complained the actor. YouTube/Graham Bensinger
Lundgren said his doctor gave him two or three years to live and recommended he take a break from work and spend more time with his family.
“It wasn’t like I was bitter about it,” he shared. “It was just like, you know, feel sorry for my kids and my fiancée and people around you.”
He decided to seek a second opinion before giving up.
“It wasn’t like I was bitter about it,” he shared. “It was just like, you know, feel sorry for my kids and my fiancée and people around you.” YouTube/Graham Bensinger
Enter Dr. Alexandra Drakaki.
The Santa Monica-based oncologist said when she met Lundgren, he was “sick-looking” and “completely absent” from the appointment.
Drakaki offered to do a second biopsy, uncovering a mutation that would allow Lundgren to heal through medication.
“She was like, ‘This is really good news,”‘ Krokdal told Bensinger. “There’s so many medications that target this mutation. We’re going to start with this one that seems to be the most effective.”
The whole ordeal has given the “Creed II” star a new appreciation for life. YouTube/Graham Bensinger
Lundgren revealed the cancer has shrunk 90% since he started taking the medicine, and he is in the process of getting the scar tissue from the tumors removed.
“I used to say his cancer is melting away,” Drakaki laughed. “There are certain parts of his body that the cancer is responding really well. There’s some lesions that we cannot see them anymore. So that is above expectations.”
The whole ordeal has given the “Creed II” star a new appreciation for life.
“Somehow as an actor, you know, you try to put positive emotion and positive energy into the world,” he mused. “I’ve always tried to be nice to everybody I meet … and maybe it came back to me somehow when I needed it the most.”
Source: New York Post
