Dolph Lundgren, seen here at the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios “Masters Of The Universe,” has opened up in recent years about his kidney cancer diagnosis in 2015 and what’s happened in the decade since. (Photo by Brianna Bryson/WireImage)
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Dolph Lundgren first became an iconic actor when he was playing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in the 1985 movie Rocky IV and said to the much smaller Rocky Balboa, “I must break you.” Well, in 2020, Lundgren had to deal with something even bigger that would have broken many people. He was told that the kidney cancer that was first diagnosed and treated five years prior had returned and spread to the point that he had only a few years to live. That grave prognosis thankfully turned out to be wrong as evidenced by the fact that I recently talked to the now 68-year-old actor, filmmaker and martial artist about this harrowing experience and his eventually getting proper treatment and declared cancer-free.
Lundgren Was First Diagnosed With Kidney Cancer In 2015
You could say that Lundgren’s life turned quite rocky about a decade ago. That was when he noticed some blood in his urine, although he wasn’t having any other symptoms. He initially thought that the blood might have been from his sparring, but it turned out to be a lot more serious.“I was first diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2015,” Lundgren told me “I was in Sweden about to enter a Gumball race, actually, it was a bit shocking. You end up thinking about your own death and didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Lundgren was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, specifically, which according to the Kidney Cancer Association, comprises around 90 percent of all kidney cancer diagnoses. As of 2022, an estimated 676,631 people were living with kidney and renal pelvis cancer in the U.S., making these the eighth most common cancers diagnosed in this country. About one in 56 Americans will end up being diagnosed with kidney/renal pelvis cancer at some point in their lives. Around 78.6 percent of those with kidney cancer are still alive five years after diagnosis. But keep in mind that, as you’ll hear about later, even RCC can come in many different forms with many different likelihoods of survival.
Soon after his diagnosis with RCC, Lundgren did undergo surgery, which removed the tumor that was in his left kidney, and was then declared cancer free. All he needed was periodic CT scans to make sure that the cancer doesn’t return. So, end of story, right? Well, Lundgren’s character in the 1992 movie Universal Soldier did say, “The war is over, but not for me.” And unfortunately that ended up being sort of the case with Lundgren’s war against renal cell carcinoma in the latter half of the 2010’s. He just didn’t know it at the time.
Lundgren Found Out In 2020 That His Kidney Cancer Had Spread
Fast forward to 2020, which in hindsight turned out to be a tough year for many around the world due to something called COVID. But it was especially tough for Lundgren because that’s when he while in Sweden found out that his kidney cancer had been detected again. This time, though, it had spread to his spine, liver and lungs. The size and spread of the tumors meant that they couldn’t remove all of them by surgery.
Therefore, he started immunotherapy, which entailed getting IV medications every month or so in attempts to boost his immune system to better combat the cancer. That may sound straightforward in theory but in practice he experienced lots of different side effects, including loss taste, appetite and weight, diarrhea, sores on his feet and hands and blood clots that went to his lungs. Moreover, on a trip to London to work on two movies: The Expendables and Aquaman, “I found out from a British doctor that it was serious that this treatment wasn’t working,” Lundgren related to me. “I was engaged to my current wife, and [the doctor] said, ‘Well, you know, if it doesn’t work, you really don’t have long to live, maybe a couple of years.’”
Lundgren then returned to the U.S. interested in a second opinion. Through a connection made during golfing outing, a friend “putt” him in touch with a doctor at UCLA: Alexandra Drakaki, MD, PhD, an associate professor of hematology/oncology and urology. Drakaki’s father happened to be a huge action movie fan, and she had watched Lundgren’s movies as a result. Also, Drakaki’s husband happened to train in the same karate—Kyokushin Karate—that Lundgren practiced, which Lundgren said, “was kind of a strange coincidence, kind of meant to be, that I had met them and she ended up saving my life as well.”
Reviewing Old Tissue Samples Revealed That Lundgren Had ALK-Positive Kidney Cancer
When Drakaki reviewed Lundgren’s case, she thought that things didn’t quite add up and checked old tissue sample from Lundgren’s tumor. In that tissue sample from 2015, Drakaki found a mutation that hadn’t been detected at the time—an ALK mutation. And you could say that the mutation ended up changing a lot.
The ALK stands for Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase enzyme, since it was first discovered in lymphoma cells. But lymphoma cells aren’t the only cells with the ALK gene. Although you may not remember this since you were an embryo at the time, the ALK gene did help your gut and nervous system develop. But the ALK gene likely got turned off before you were born. While it’s supposed to stay off, trouble can arise later in life if the ALK gene somehow gets turned back and then joins or fuses with another gene. Such a fusion can then lead to cells turning cancerous, most often seen in what’s called ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer.
That Meant Lundgren Could Benefit From Targetted Treatment With Alectinib
When this rare mutation is present in cancer cells, it is helpful to detect it as soon possible. That’s because there are ALK-inhibitor medications specifically designed to block the abnormal ALK protein and thus specifically target such ALK-positive cancers. Lundgren ended up getting one such medication, alectinib, which ended up making a big, big difference—in making the big tumors much smaller. “Within a few months, the tumor started shrinking,” Lundgren recalled. “Within a year, 9o percent of all the tumors were gone.”
The tumors had become small enough to be destroyed by cryotherapy—a cold, cold technique used to freeze and destroy cancer cells. The last remaining tumor was in his liver. That wasn’t exactly a liver let live situation, though, as Lundgren started bleeding there from the cryotherapy, which he said almost killed him. He also developed an abscess in the liver, which is when bad bacteria infects an area and a pocket of pus forms there. That then required six months of antibiotic treatment. Yes, you heard that correctly, six months. “At the end of that, my body went through some kind of shock, and I got physically kind of weak,” Lundgren said. “That’s when that’s when I gave myself in early 2023 a year to get back in shape. But it took me like two years.” He added, “Now I’ve been in NED, they call no evidence of disease, for three years now.”
Lundgren Talked About More Targeted Therapies Being The Future Of Cancer Treatment
Getting much more targeted therapy not only helped shrink the tumors, it also may have made the treatment more tolerable. Lundgren experienced much fewer side effects with the alectinib than the immunotherapy. Lundgren’s experience and his background in chemical engineering helped prompt his interest in Athos Therapeutics, a company that Drakaki’s husband has. The company is using artificial intelligence—otherwise known as AI if you haven’t heard the term yet—to “look at the mutations of various cancer, genes to determine what exact medication could be helpful,” as Lundgren described it. “I’ve learned that cancer treatment is still in infancy.”
Lundgren Emphasized The Importance Of Physician Expertise And Experience
That mean’s that not everyone will realize the options available for the treatment of particular cancers. So, it is important to see a doctor with the right experience, expertise and abilities, because all doctors are not the same, regardless of what some healthcare administrators, insurance companies and clinic schedulers may try to tell you. Case in point, Lundgren’s decision to get a second opinion turned out to be life-changing as in life-saving. “If you have the opportunity to get a second opinion from somebody, do so,” Lundgren urged. “Some doctors are great, and some aren’t good.” He used the analogy of finding a plumber: “Some plumbers may not be able to fix your toilet. But if the right guy walks in, it takes him like two seconds.” Of course, Lundgren did emphasize that he’s not implying that a doctor and plumber are in any way the same. In other words, if your doctor pulls out a plunger, you may want to look for another doctor.
Lundgren Also Emphasized The Importance Of A Positive Attitude
Speaking of plunger, immediately after getting such a cancer diagnosis, it’s natural to plunge into despair. Lundgren mentioned being in “bit of a daze” after he received his dire prognosis, “You’re sort of sitting there and making redrafting your estate plan, drawing up your will.” He added, “It’s a tough fight when you get cancer, it’s a shock. The first thing is I think to stay positive to try to stay in shape as much as you can, stay physically active and try to stay mentally active.” Lundgren showed what soldiering on in such a manner can do. “I think that my doctor told me that the body can hear itself to some degree,” he said. “The body is an amazing instrument.”
Lundgren also provided some good advice on being, well, good: “We’re on this Earth for a limited amount of time, and it goes very quickly. So, we need to enjoy each moment each day.” He continued with, “We should be good to each other, especially loved ones and be good to ourselves.” This includes providing support to people with cancer because Lundgren is quite positive that having a positive mindset can help patients better fight cancer. That certainly echoes what other’s who have battled different cancers have said to me like Grace Wethor and John Tesh.
Lundgren Is Back To His Busy Self
For someone who was not supposed to live past 2022 or 2023, supposedly, Lundgren is doing quite well and staying quite busy. This has included working with the Kidney Cancer Association for which he is now an “Emeritus Member of the Board of Directors,” to raise more needed awareness of kidney cancer and its treatments. He is also hosting a TV series on the History Channel called “History’s Greatest Machines” and having an autobiography coming out with Harper Collins this Fall and a documentary on him soon to follow. He and his wife are also taking a shot at being an entrepreneur. They’ve started a vodka brand called Hard Cut Vodka.
Speaking of hard cut, going through the cancer experience was undoubtedly hard. But it has cut both ways. As mentioned earlier, Lundgren has learned a lot from the experience. One more thing he’s learned is to be open about it. He initially kept quiet about his diagnosis but after opening up about it in recent years, he’s noticed that it hasn’t hurt his career as his agent feared. “I felt really good to not to have to keep it as a secret and to be able to let people know that it’s okay to talk about it.” In other words, it’s not going to break you. In fact, it might do the opposite.