Ryan Seacrest had some sad news to share.
On July 21, the American Idol host, 50, revealed that his father, Gary, has been quietly battling prostate cancer for several years.
“[He] started his treatment and he — it didn’t get better,” Seacrest confessed on his radio show, On Air with RyanSeacrest. “It got worse and it spread. It didn’t go well for him.”
While filming a live episode of the singing competition last season, he received a call from his sister, Meredith. “She said, ‘Dad is in the ICU’ and ‘How fast can you get here?'” Seacrest recalled. “I didn’t even remember what I was saying while I was on the show. I said ‘Goodnight,’ and I went to the airport immediately and got on a flight.”
Upon arriving at the hospital, Seacrest discovered that “the conversation they were having with [my father] about an emergency surgery was a life or death conversation,” he said. “I’ve never seen my strong, very smart father with the look on his face that he had and the concern and looking at me to help guide what decisions should be made in this moment.”
Battling pneumonia after having received chemotherapy treatment had left Seacrest’s dad Gary weak. “He could not get up to sit. He could not eat. He could not drink water. He could not go to the bathroom,” Seacrest explained. But after a few weeks in the ICU, “finally, he began to get some strength back.”
With his 87th birthday only a few days away, Seacrest recently asked his father what he wanted. “He said, ‘I just want to get out of this chair. I just want to leave this house,'” the Wheel of Fortune host revealed. “And so, last night, I got the most powerful, good, happy picture from my dad and my mother, who is with him. They went to a beach to sit outside.”
Breaking down in tears, Seacrest struggled to express just how much that photo meant to him. “They just wanted to look at the water. They can’t do much. But I saw him smile, I saw my mom smile,” he said, overcome with emotion.
Gary’s pneumonia is gone, Seacrest went on to note. Sadly, though, his cancer is not. “We have to go back into another treatment and fight this cancer,” Seacrest shared. “It’s difficult. Cancer affects every one of us in some way — and it sucks. The treatments suck. The treatments are tough. But I know he’s gonna get through this.”
Fans are pulling for him too.
“Keeping your dad in my prayers,” an Instagram user commented. “My heart goes out to you and your family,” added another. “Don’t give up hope,” declared a third.
