Gary Sinise Opens Up About Leaving Hollywood and Losing His Son to Cancer: ‘I Just Want to Be Around Family’

https://people.com/gary-sinise-leaving-hollywood-losing-son-to-cancer-exclusive-11733744

18 comments

  1. > “It looked like a monster grabbing my son’s spine,” Sinise recalls of the MRI scan showing Mac had a bone cancer known as chordoma, which affects only 300 people in the U.S. per year. Suddenly, the actor was grappling with how to help them both: “It was a one-two punch.”

    > In 2020, Mac was in the hospital for six of the first eight months of the year. “That’s when I stopped acting,” Sinise says. “I started putting everything I had into trying to find a miracle for Mac.”

    > He became his son’s “air traffic controller”: “I didn’t want Mac to be thinking of the next treatment or to worry. So I thought about cancer all the time. You’re trying to take the pain away. A few times I felt like I couldn’t do enough, or I didn’t know what to do. Then you say a little prayer, get back up and go back into the fight.”

    > But the next month, on Dec. 30, he was back in the hospital, a St. Augustine prayer book at his side. Mac died Jan. 5, 2024, surrounded by family. “He kept wanting to stay. He didn’t want to go. But I know Mac was at peace at the end. He dealt with it with grace and courage,” Sinise says.

  2. He’s done a lot for the veteran community and may truly be one of the few good people on the planet.

    I feel deeply sad he has to deal with this pain after sharing so much of himself with us.

  3. I don’t know if there is a better person alive than Gary Sinise. Just a wonderful caring guy.

  4. >“He kept wanting to stay. He didn’t want to go”

    This is fucking heartbreaking.

  5. He needs the free time to catalog his archive of photos that he loves to share with reddit.

  6. The pain of losing a child has to be one of life’s deepest wounds. I love how he has chosen to share his son’s music with the public following his death, and I hope that music helps him bring him some comfort.

  7. This man is an absolute Gem. There’s no “star” I admire more. So sad about his son’s death.

  8. I had a brief interaction with Gary a long time ago

    I nervously told him I loved him in Forest Gump when I randomly saw him. He could ignored it or said thanks and kept it moving, instead he stopped said thank you, shook my hand and told me that’s great to hear what was my favourite part of the movie I said “Well kiss my crippled ass” because as a kid that absolutely slayed me

    He laughed , smiled and said yeah I like that too.

    Told me to take care it was nice talking to me and have a great day.

    He then did an AMA (I think) on here and I brought it up and he remembered it.

    He took a second out of his day to create a great memory for me and I’ll never forget that.

    A great guy.

  9. He occasionally posts on Reddit, some great photos from his time in the business. He seems like a genuinely great guy.

  10. I had testicular cancer, I was beyond stressed that it spread to other parts of my body, luckily it didn’t, got it removed and 4 more scans later no cancer to be seen.

  11. When I was at basic training he came and played for us after graduation with his band. The guy is super cool and really cares about things he’s involved with. Phenomenal human being.

  12. They always say they want to leave Hollywood soon as they’re filthy rich but they sure do love it when they’re coming up making money.

  14. I met him at a meet and greet after one of his concerts in a tiny Midwest town. He was so kind. I feel like if I asked, he would have helped me move the next day.
    I wish there was a hall of fame for nice people. He would get in on the first ballot.

  15. From a user named “pantiecat” a few minutes ago

    “Gary Sinese has been MAGA POS for years, He deserves to suffer”

    I responded Jesus Christ your post history is a fucking crime scene but the post got deleted even before my response could be posted

    Literally that user is reddit poison

  16. There are probably a handful of celebrities who are really good humans. Gary Sinise is one of them.

  17. Please remember this when the doge/ trump folks cut funding for research.

Comments are closed.