‘We were all terrified’: Justin Long opens up how he dealt with mother Wendy’s cancer diagnosis in 2006
Justin Long has spoken about how he dealt with his mother Wendy’s cancer diagnosis in 2006.
‘We were all terrified,’ the actor, 42, told SurvivorNet about the family health crisis that came in 2006, spurred by an initial misdiagnosis by her physicians.
‘They thought for years that she just had fibroids that had become enlarged,’ The Wave actor said. ‘I think that’s what they kept just diagnosing it as, and so they would keep an eye on it.’
The latest: Justin Long, 42, spoke about how he dealt with his mother Wendy’s cancer diagnosis 14 years back
The Life is Short podcaster told the outlet that the ‘area started to become distended’ and ‘finally, somebody investigated enough to discover that it was, in fact, a tumor’ the size of a grapefruit , but had not yet metastasized.
Long, who’s been seen in films such as Jeepers Creepers, Dodgeball and Live Free or Die Hard, said that his mother ‘played it very cool’ and kept calm amid six months of chemotherapy treatment, which caused her to lose her hair.
‘It struck me that she didn’t seem to really worry about herself during that time. I’m sure she was, but … if she was, she didn’t really let us know,’ he said. ‘I was really proud of her and struck by that. ‘We were all, of course, freaked. We were all terrified.’
He added: ‘I remember it was interesting because she would get a little tired. There were moments where she’d feel a little bit more rundown, but otherwise, my mom’s very plucky and bubbly.’
Long said that his mother ‘played it very cool’ and kept calm amid six months of chemotherapy treatment, which caused her to lose her hair. They were snapped in 2007 in NYC
Devoted: The mother and son posed at a film premiere in 2010 in LA
Long opened up about his emotional reaction when he saw his mother without hair.
‘She had lost her hair and she’s got a scarf … and then she would either take off her hat and you’d see… and I know this is going to sound really superficial, but I remember there was something so striking about my mom not having’ hair,’ he said. ‘There’s something so striking about it, so dramatic about the way she looked. It instantly reminded you’ of her health battle.
‘I remember the sensation of having to suppress my knee-jerk emotional reaction, which was a wave of fear and sadness,’ he said. ‘I think I probably think about death more than the average person.’
Long, who provides the voice of Roboto in the upcoming Masters of the Universe: Revelation miniseries, shared a selfie at home with his dog
Long, who provides the voice of Roboto in the upcoming Masters of the Universe: Revelation miniseries, said that the troubling time brought the family closer.
‘I think it made me so much more appreciative for the time that we have left and the want to make more out of it,’ he said. ‘It was a scary time for sure.’
The actor said he ‘was really touched by how well taken care of’ his mother was at Yale New Haven Hospital amid her chemo treatments.