Douglas had been looking older and tired but this had been attributed to his son being on trial and going to prison for drug trafficking. However, it has now been revealed that the actor had discovered some weeks ago the reason for his hoarse voice and the trouble he had swallowing.
The 65-year-old actor was a smoker for decades and has a tumour in his throat. Douglas will undergo an eight-week course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy that aims to prevent doctors from conducting surgery on his larynx, as this is the best chance he has of keeping his voice. The actor has a locally advanced cancerous growth and surgery, a partial or complete laryngectomy, would leave him with a changed voice, or no voice at all.
The odds of survival from cancer of the larynx after five years are around 60 per cent, and around 80 per cent if it has been caught early. However, if it is cancer of the oesophagus then the survival rate changes drastically and is only about five per cent after five years. Till a few days ago the actors team were not wanting to discuss the exact details of what type of cancer it is.
Douglas has decided not to attend a conference in Hong Kong in September and he has had to cancel a global publicity push for his upcoming film, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. The film is a sequel to his eighties hit, Wall Street where he played trader Gordon Gekko and won the Oscar for Best Actor.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2010.
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