Former Disney Channel star Christy Carlson Romano revealed in a tearful video Tuesday that a recent cancer screening brought back positive results.
The “Even Stevens” actress, 41, said she and her husband Brendan Rooney both chose to get cancer screenings, partly because her family has a history of the disease and partly because of her relationship with “Dawson’s Creek” star James Van Der Beek, who passed away last week at the age of 48 from colorectal cancer.
“I live in Austin, and I was able to meet James Van Der Beek a bunch. His family’s amazing. He’s a pillar of our community in Texas,” Romano explained. “They always were raising money for the most amazing charities, and he’s not with us anymore. Cancer is everywhere. Which is why I got this test.”
“I got the results back,” the “Kim Possible” voice actress added, revealing, “My husband’s came back completely negative. Mine did not come back negative.” In the same video, Romano noted that both of her parents were diagnosed with cancer. While her mother survived the disease, her father “eventually didn’t” and her maternal grandmother also died of lung cancer.
Romano acknowledged that the positive results from her screening do not mean she actually has cancer. She laid out her plan to get a PET scan in order to determine if an actual diagnosis should be made, but also revealed she is currently “fighting” with insurance companies to have the cost of the scan covered.
“Right now the news is that something is going on. I’m nervous and a bit scared,” Romano wrote in the caption of her Instagram video. “I debated whether or not I was going to post this because I was afraid I’d come off ‘cringe.’ But I decided it was my duty to share, so that people get out there and get screenings. Let’s keep the good vibes going and I will keep you all posted as I get more information.”
The actress reflected on the “very vulnerable” time she has been in as of late, following both the results of her cancer screening and the incident last year in which she was shot in the face while shooting clay pigeons with her husband. She was hospitalized following the latter incident.
“About 367 days since I got shot in the face,” Romano noted in her Tuesday video. “It’s time to have a strong sense of faith and know that it’s in God’s hands, most of it. I’m sure people think I’m overreacting, but I’m not, because cancer is pretty serious and I have two little girls.”
Romano is raising two daughters — 9-year-old Isabella and 7-year-old Sofia — with her husband. She acknowledged Tuesday that the Instagram video was a “very emotional post.”
“When you’re somebody like me, you kinda have to take life a day at a time, really be grateful for all the amazing stuff around you. That’s why I always try to make jokes, and I try to be funny,” Romano told her followers. “Not just because I’m trying to be liked, or stay relevant. I don’t share that a lot.”
In the video’s comments, Romano’s husband praised his spouse, writing, “You got this my beautiful wife. We will figure this out and destroy any problem that comes your way. I love you beyond words.”
