Travel guru Rick Steves gets candid about his experience with prostate cancer.
Steves, 69, addressed the illness, sharing that it left him “aware of what you might regret when you’re ending your life,” during the Dec. 14 episode The New York Times’ podcast Interviewhosted by David Marchese and Lulu Garcia-Navarro.
“There are regrets,” he admitted Rick Steves’ Europe star, who was diagnosed with cancer in August. “[A career in travel] it was not good for my family. I got divorced. It was not good for relationships with loved ones.”
“I would like to be the person I was before I became a travel writer,” he continued. “I would have had a very, very nice life if I’d been a piano teacher and come home every night for dinner and cut the lawn, and joined clubs, and, you know, be regular and reliable. But I chose a different path, and this is a path that is — that’s a mission for me.”
“I did the math,” he explained. “I have the opportunity to be what I consider extremely productive … helping people travel in a constructive way. And I choose it knowing that it will not be without cost. Yes, I am aware of that. I’m kind of sad about that too. But, again, you have to make a choice.”
Rick Steves in October 2024.
Derek Davis/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty
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Steves also admitted that while his diagnosis is sometimes “scary,” he tries to approach it with a “traveler’s mindset.”
“You know, a month ago I said goodbye to my prostate and I see it as a journey. I don’t speak the language. I don’t know exactly where it’s going. I have no control over the itinerary,” he said.
“And that’s interesting to me. It didn’t disappoint me. It’s kind of – not fun – but I have a learning experience,” he added. “I didn’t really want to be an incontinence expert, but I’ll take it.”
The travel writer shared that he tries to stay open and honest about what he’s going through, revealing that his social media post in August revealing his diagnoses was “the most commented and shared post I’ve ever had on Facebook.”
“And that was a very, very positive thing,” he added. “I always thought it was important not to hide these things, not to be ashamed of anything.”
Steves also revealed that growing up with a mother who suffered from depression motivated him to share a personal health update with his fans.
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“When I was … a teenager – it was a long time ago – my mom had some kind of depression, and [the doctors] fiddling around trying to find the right kind of anti-depressant for her and so on. And I know there’s a lot of depression in our society, and even as a teenager I felt I couldn’t hide it. We need to share that with people so that when they have depression in their family, they’re more open about it… and they’re not alone and afraid, but they’re in a community.”
He also noted that the outpouring of support he has received since announcing his diagnosis has “almost tangible value. It fills the sails that are driving me through this journey and I am truly grateful for that.”
As for the prognosis, Steves said he’s optimistic and “doing the best you can,” adding, “My prognosis is very good. If you’re going to get cancer, the prostate is a good kind of cancer.”
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Source: HIS Education