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Credit: Judy Eddy/Cover Images
The Golden Bachelor is one of the latest hits to emerge from the world of reality television. Unfortunately, though, there is bad news to report from one of the stars of the show. Gerry Turner has announced that he’s been diagnosed with incurable bone marrow cancer. The star also says this is part of the reason for his divorce from Theresa Nist earlier this year.
As fans know, Gerry was the first golden bachelor, and the show is still relatively new. He proposed to Theresa in November of last year during the show’s season finale. They got married in January but announced their divorce in April.
Gerry, a 72-year-old father of two, shared the heartbreaking news with PEOPLE recently in an exclusive interview. Specifically, he has been diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. This disease impacts white blood cells and changes them into cancer cells. He said to the outlet, “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 went on, “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, Indiana.”
The Golden Bachelor star then revealed the worst part of his diagnosis, saying, “Unfortunately, there’s no cure for it. So that weighs heavily in every decision I make. 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 discussed his marriage to Theresa and why he felt the need to end it. He said, “I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that led me to believing that as normal as possible more meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two son-in-laws, my granddaughters.”
He added, “And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.” There have been rumors about why they separated, but he said he hopes people will “look at things a little bit differently now.”
The reality star went on to say, “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. 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.”
However, Theresa disagreed that his diagnosis caused their breakup. She said to PEOPLE, “If that was something on his part, maybe, I don’t know. But no, that didn’t factor into ending the relationship. Part of it was the distance, but that wasn’t the only part. That’s really all I will say.”
Still, she wished him the best in his health battle.
Being diagnosed with cancer has not slowed Gerry down, according to TMZ. He recently told the outlet that he’s still playing pickleball three times a week and walking near a lake twice a week. He also said, “I get the benefit of living like I’m dying!”
As for his life expectancy, Gary said he hasn’t asked doctors how long he has to live because he doesn’t want to know. He did say he feels great, and he added that people with this type of cancer can live for up to nine years without treatment. He will have to get blood tests every six months to monitor his health.
Sadly, he will begin to show symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, night sweats, and bleeding at some point in the future. We send him well wishes during this troubling time.
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