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Gary Sinise is opening up about his decision to take time away from Hollywood.
The Oscar-nominated actor, 69, revealed he left Los Angeles in 2021 after multiple members of his family battled cancer.
“We were in the cancer fight during that time,” Sinise told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “Traveling away from the family wasn’t possible with what we were going through. My wife [Moira Harris] had been diagnosed with breast cancer. My son was diagnosed with this very rare cancer you know, within two months of each other.”
The “Forrest Gump” star had previously announced that his son, McCanna Anthony “Mac” Sinise, was diagnosed in August 2018 with a “very rare cancer” known as Chordoma. This type of cancer forms in a person’s spine or at the base of their skull, per Cleveland Clinic.
Mac sadly passed away at age 33 earlier this year.
Just a few months before his son’s diagnosis, Harris, 70, was battling stage 3 breast cancer.
“And the cancer fight for Mac was especially difficult because he was… fighting this cancer with no cure,” Sinise confessed to the outlet. “And trying to find drugs and doctors, and trying to find anybody who could do anything for him was like a full-time job.”
The “CSI: NY” star continued, “Plus he became more and more disabled by the cancer as time went on and he needed more and more care.”
At the time, Sinise’s dad had also “just had a stroke” and he had to “take care” of his mom, who was “alone” at the time. As he recounted, “I kind of had my hands full.”
Harris, who tied the knot with Sinise in 1981, went into remission and is cancer-free. However, he explained that it was “difficult” to watch his son fight the cancer “until he finally just couldn’t fight it anymore.”
“As parents, it is so difficult losing a child,” he reflected. “My heart goes out to all who have suffered a similar loss, and to anyone who has lost a loved one. We’ve all experienced it in some way.”
Sinise told Fox News that Mac “was happy at the end of his life,” explaining he “had achieved something that he had set out to do, which was to record all this music and make a full album out of it.”
“And that gave me a lot of joy just watching him kind of enjoy those moments.”
Sinise shared the heartbreaking news of his son’s death on Jan. 5 on the Gary Sinise Foundation‘s website, revealing that Mac was laid to rest on Jan. 23.
He also took a moment to open up about his grief.
“Like any family experiencing such a loss, we are heartbroken and have been managing as best we can,” he wrote.
“As parents, it is so difficult losing a child. My heart goes out to all who have suffered a similar loss, and to anyone who has lost a loved one. We’ve all experienced it in some way. Over the years I have met so many families of our fallen heroes. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s just damn hard,” Sinise continued. “Our family’s cancer fight lasted for 5 ½ years, and it became more and more challenging as time went on. While our hearts ache at missing him, we are comforted in knowing that Mac is no longer struggling, and inspired and moved by how he managed it.”
“He fought an uphill battle against a cancer that has no cure, but he never quit trying.”
Sinise said he shared his story because he and his family “hope to shine a little bit of light on what has been a difficult time.”
“Mac was truly a light for all of us,” he added.
Sinise and Harris are also parents to daughters Sophie and Ella. Besides “Forrest Gump,” Sinise, who has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Tony, is also known for his roles in “Apollo 13” and “The Green Mile.”
English (US)