Actor Gary Sinise and his family leaned on their faith when his son, Mac, died from a rare form of spinal cancer earlier this year. “It was just inspiring to see how it helped sustain him through this cancer battle,” the “Forrest Gump” star says.
After the first tumor was removed in September 2018, Mac was monitored. Tragically, by May 2019, the cancer had returned.
“It had come back and it was starting to spread throughout his body,” Sinise said. “He was back in the hospital again, and he started chemo and radiation at that point, but there is no cure for this particular cancer. There’s no reliable drug that has been used to fight it that has been effective.”
Mac had to resign from his position with his foundation as he mustered the energy to fight on, relying on faith to cope and process. Throughout the ordeal, Mac prayed, journaled and revisited creating music he started years before but never completed. Despite Mac’s struggles, Sinise said his son’s spirit was truly uplifted and bright, with his faith supporting him throughout his tribulations.
“I know his faith played a strong part in helping to sustain him through this battle,” he told CBN. “And I was there with him every step of the way in these hospital stays and with him those final days before he died and saw him struggling. But I knew that he was fulfilled with what he’d accomplished at the end.”
Sinise, who also is a man of deep faith, was candid about the struggles of being a loving father watching his son suffer, especially as his wife, Moira, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer just months before Mac’s diagnosis, herself facing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.
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Sinise’s foundation serves veterans and their families, men and women who have given their all for America and who often find themselves in great need of emotional and physical support.
“All those broken families that I’ve had the privilege to touch over the years — our veterans and first responders and Gold Star kids — they’ve all had those moments where they buckle and they fall down,” he said. “Somebody has to reach out and touch you and help to pick you up.”
After Mac’s death, he decided to make the family’s private battle public to help inspire others through his journey. As Mac’s life came to a close, Sinise said his son was thinking a lot about his mortality, recognizing “cancer was beating him” and realizing what that would mean. He spent time reading a St. Augustine prayer book that contained underlined text and his thoughts, giving a lens into his spiritual condition.
“That was his special prayer book that he left his mother,” he said. “He wrote in it, ‘At my passing, give to mom,’ and a lot of things are underlined in there.”
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice