James Van Der Beek On His Cancer Diagnosis & What’s Keeping Him Strong

Diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer at age 46, James Van Der Beek opens up about his emotional journey and how his wife and six kids give him strength: "I can handle this." The beloved star discusses how he received the diagnosis after a colonoscopy last year, and how he reckoned with the abrupt change it brought. "I really felt like this is going to be the biggest life redirect, I'm going to make changes that I never would have made otherwise, that I'm going to look back on in a year, five years, thirty years from now and think, thank God that happened. And that's how I was 90% of the time. And then 10% of the time I was a sobbing, terrified mess." James shares the challenges of the "full time job" of having cancer, sharing the diagnosis with loved ones and managing fatherhood while healing. "I'm feeling great, I'm very cautiously optimistic."