He fought Sylvester Stallone for a long time in the ring in “Rocky IV” and versions of the famous boxing film. But since 2015, Dolph Lundgren has been living with a Damocles sword hanging over his head, which could well cause him to lose his fight against illness. Indeed, this Wednesday, May 10, the 65-year-old Swedish actor revealed to journalist Graham Bensiger that he had been battling terminal liver cancer for eight years.
Doctors removed his first kidney tumor in 2015 before Dolph Lundgren remained on treatment that seemed to be working…until 2020. This year, the 65-year-old actor is now feeling “a kind of acid reflux”. An MRI is taken and one of Rocky’s “biggest haters” finds out “another tumor in the liver the size of a small lemon”. A cancer that then spread to his lungs, spine and stomach.
Two or three more years “to live”…
The results of the doctors are complicated to hear… Dolph Lundgren would only have two left “or three years” to live. But eager to fight, he then decides to consult another practitioner who offers him a new protocol. Winning bet because tumors shrink by up to 30% in just three months. “If I had followed the other treatment, I would have remained about three to four months to live”he assures.
It is finally in 2022 that he really realizes the effects of the treatment. “Eventually the stuff was reduced by 90%”he rejoices before however warning: “Now I have to remove the remaining scar tissue from the tumours. The prognosis is that hopefully when they are removed there will be no more cancerous activity and the drugs will remove all the remnants.”
Dolph Lundgren, or this new fight he could win
If he is confident, the actor known for his roles in “Rocky”, The Expendables”or “Creed II”, recognizes that his past did not help him and favored the appearance of cancer. Especially when he took steroids in the 80s and 90s. every scene,” he told the reporter. He will now continue to fight, and hope to emerge victorious and raise his fist after knocking out the disease.
RF