(WFLA) — Vlogger Hank Green, known for his informational videos and vlogs on social media, announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer Friday.
Hank Green announced the diagnosis on his vlogbrothers YouTube channel — which he runs with his brother, author John Green, known for his books like “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Paper Towns.”
“I’m fine, but I’m not fine, and it sucks,” Hank Green said.
He said he got an ultrasound after noticing that his lymph nodes were getting bigger than normal.
After getting a biopsy, the 43-year-old vlogger learned that he had developed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
“It seems likely that we caught mine early,” he said.
Hank Green said he had some risk factors for lymphoma from his pre-existing conditions such as an auto-immune disease, a childhood case of mono, and certain medications that he has been taking.
According to him, he has not had any symptoms from the cancer but he expects the chemotherapy to start causing issues for his video content. He said he will start treatment soon.
“I know I’m going to feel like garbage,” he said. “Like it’s gonna be really unpleasant. Chemo is intentionally poisoning your body so that the super-hungry cells get poisoned more and die.”
He did invite his audience to subscribe to his newsletter and send him any movies, shows, or video games to enjoy while he dealt with his cancer.
Hank Green said he did have a friend who was 10 years into remission for lymphoma, which will help him deal with his own treatment.
“It’s been really nice to have that in my back pocket for texting and being like, ‘is this normal? Am I panicking? Please tell me I’m going to be ok,'” he said while chuckling.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that Hodgkin lymphoma is a form of cancer that is more common in the lymph system of younger people, while non-Hodgkin lymphoma is more common among adults as they get older.
According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year relative survival rate is very high for Hodgkin lymphoma, with early stages having survival rates of 93-to-85%. Even late-stage lymphoma has a survival rate of 83%.