The Golden Bachelor alum Gerry Turner revealed in December 2024 that he was diagnosed with cancer during his short marriage to ex-wife Theresa Nist. What type of cancer does Gerry have and what has he said about his health following the diagnosis?
What Type of Cancer Does ‘Golden Bachelor’ Alum Gerry Turner Have?
Gerry revealed he had been diagnosed with a slow-growing “bone marrow cancer” called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia during an interview with People published on December 11, 2024.
Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia “is a type of cancer that begins in the white blood cells,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “In Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, some white blood cells undergo changes that turn them into cancer cells. The cancer cells can build up in the spongy material inside the bones where blood cells are made. This material is called bone marrow. The cancer cells crowd healthy blood cells out of the bone marrow. Cancer cells also may build up in other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes and the spleen.”
How Did ‘Golden Bachelor’ Alum Gerry Turner Learn About His Cancer Diagnosis?
Three years before learning the diagnosis, Gerry suffered an injury when someone knocked him over during a pickleball class. He never went to see an orthopedic surgeon about the injury, and struggled to find time to make an appointment when the opportunity to star on The Golden Bachelor came up.
“Finally I got around to going [to the doctor] and the orthopedic surgeon said, ‘Yeah Gerry, there’s not much we can do for your shoulder, but there are some unusual blood markers here,’” he told the outlet. “And so an orthopedic surgeon went to my family doctor, my family doctor referred me to an oncologist, and now I’m working with a hematology-oncology group in Fort Wayne.”
After he revealed his diagnosis, Gerry said that there is “no cure for it.”
“So that weighs heavily in every decision I make,” he continued. “It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me. And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit to it.”
Gerry then told Theresa – whom he married in January 2024 – about the diagnosis in February 2024, and he shared even more details in mid-March 2024 after he completed more testing.
He said that the conversation was “hard” for him, though they kept it “brief.”
Gerry Turner’s Cancer Diagnosis Led to Decision to Divorce
After Gerry said that Theresa was “a little bit awestruck by the news,” he explained that he “wanted [his] life to continue on as normal as possible.”
“That led me to believing that as normal as possible … meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two [sons-in-law], my granddaughters,” he continued. “And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.”
The former couple – who fell in love and got engaged during the debut season of The Golden Bachelor – announced their split in April 2024. Their divorce was later finalized in June 2024.
“When you are hit with that kind of news and the shock wears off after a few days or a few weeks and you regroup and you realize what’s important to you, that’s where you start to move forward,” Gerry said, reflecting on the backlash he and Theresa received following their split. “And I hope that people understand in retrospect now that that had a huge bearing on my decisions and I think probably Theresa’s as well.”
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