MovieChat Forums > Dustin Diamond Discussion > Stage 4 Cancer - Small Cell Carcinoma

Stage 4 Cancer - Small Cell Carcinoma

posted 3 years ago by Rorikon (16957)
10 replies | jump to latest

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/dustin-diamond-death-saved-by-the-bell-cancer-b1795996.html

The actor was hospitalised on 12 January, and died in the morning of Monday, 1 February, a representative for the actor confirmed. Diamond had been complaining of severe body pain and was given a diagnosis of small-cell carcinoma two days later.

Diamond’s cancer had metastasised in his lungs, though, according to TMZ, and he was unable to recover. He was reportedly taken off respiratory machines as his medical team planned to move him to hospice care.

After his run on Saved by the Bell, Diamond dealt with a series of personal struggles and scandals, making headlines for a 2006 sex tape and in 2015 was jailed for four months following his involvement in a Wisconsin bar fight.

After releasing a 2009 tell-all book titled Behind the Bell, which was adapted into a Lifetime TV movie in 2014, Diamond appeared to be on tense terms with his former castmates, with former lead Gosselaar claiming that he did not remember his experiences on the show the way his co-star appeared to.

Alex Trebek died with Stage 4 - Pancreatic Cancer. Do these folks not get checked often or what? Stage 4 is the final stage so what happened to Stage 1-3? Age 44 is still pretty young as well. You know, we spend millions if not billions into cancer research and the best thing we could come up with is chemotherapy with no actual cure, just a plausible survival rate that few pull through, higher if you catch it earlier. Must be our environment that's causing these cancerous cells to form. I wonder if it was this prominent back in the age of sail with scurvy.

[–] ebhaynz (3621) 3 years ago

I would guess that Diamond had some really bad habits, probably smoking from an early age on.

[–] whynotwriteme (7444) 3 years ago

Maybe he did. maybe he didn't. My grandmother drank gin like a fish and smoked cigarettes like a chimney and she died at age 80 from a blood infection she got through an oven-burn on the back of her hand. My best buddy's father never smoked, never drank, and played sports all his life, and he died of lymphoma at 52. You never know when your number is going to be up and sometimes our habits have nothing to do with it.

[–] ebhaynz (3621) 3 years ago

True, but it's still rare to die of lung cancer at such a young age without smoking being a contributor.

[–] whynotwriteme (7444) 3 years ago

I saw an article recently that said lung cancer without a history of smoking is becoming more and more common. https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/26/growing-share-of-lung-cancer-turning-up-in-never-smokers/

[–] TMC-4 (19590) 3 years ago

Andy Kaufman also died from lung cancer (he had large-cell carcinoma of the lung) even though he never smoked.

[–] whynotwriteme (7444) 3 years ago

Some cancers are almost undetectable. A friend of mine was under a doctor's diligent care with regular visits to monitor his diabetes. One day they found some irregularities, and the next week, boom! He got DX'ed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Yep... lots of cancers aren't going to be detected unless you are looking for them or just get lucky when looking for something else in the person. I've know people that had lung cancer and didn't feel bad with only some having minor complaints of a cough that they assumed was from seasonal allergies... well the one thing they all had in common is that they had lung cancer and by the time they decided to see a doctor it was in the later stage 4 time and nothing could be done. Most were dead within 3 months.

[–] ebhaynz (3621) 3 years ago

Stage 4 means it's spread to other organs in the body. Some cancers multiply so fast that you can be cancer free one month and stage 4 the next month. Horrible diagnosis I've had it happen to many friends of mine RIP to them all.

[–] Eric56 (4580) 3 years ago

He was only 44. That's very young!

Apparently, he found out about it in January and then died less than a month later. That's crazy! I didn't know it can be so sudden like that.

I tend to think of cancer patients struggling for MONTHS. But not so sudden like this.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

There is a good chance he had the cancer for a couple of years, but because he never had a chest x-ray which wouldn't be a normal part of a physical for someone his age on an annual check up, he probably had no signs of it as it slowly progressed. The trend of trying to lower medical costs by insurance companies has greatly reduced things like chest x-rays which are simply not done on an annual exam the way they were 50 years ago. Today you wouldn't expect one unless you have symptoms that a doctor thought required one or unless you reach the age of about 64.