Actor Ryan O’Neal Fought Two Types of Cancer & Overcame Losing Farrah Fawcett– How The Former Boxer Did It

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), also known as chronic myelogenous leukemia, is a type of cancer of the white blood cells. As the disease progresses, CML cells crowd out healthy cells and eventually build up and spill over into the blood. Although CML usually grows slowly, it can also turn into a faster-growing acute leukemia, which is more difficult to treat.

RELATED: Understanding the Key Differences Between Acute and Chronic Myeloid Leukemias

“It’s important for patients diagnosed with CML to understand that their prognosis is quite favorable,” Dr. Jay Yang, hematologist, medical oncologist, and leader of the Hematology-Oncology Multidisciplinary Team at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, tells SurvivorNet. “With modern treatments, most patients will go on to live healthy and productive lives with a normal life expectancy.”

O’Neal’s spokeswoman did not say what kind of treatment he underwent, according to ABC News, but he reached remission for the disease.

WATCH: Diagnosing CML

Symptoms for CML are often vague, as many other ailments can cause them. However, common symptoms include:

• Weakness
• Fatigue
• Night sweats
• Weight loss
• Fever
• Bone pain
• An enlarged spleen (which may be felt as a mass under the left side of the ribcage)
• Pain or a sense of fullness in the stomach
• Feeling full after a small amount of food

Roughly a decade after that cancer battle, the “What’s Up, Doc” actor was diagnosed with stage 2b prostate cancer.

“Although I was shocked and stunned by the news, I feel fortunate that it was detected early,” O’Neal said to People Magazine at the time.

Prostate cancer that is stage 2b means the cancer has not yet spread outside the prostate. Your doctor might feel it with a digital rectal exam (DRE) or see it with imaging. At this stage, the Gleason score is 7, and the PSA level is less than 20.

WATCH: Understanding your Gleason score amid prostate cancer.

Assessing Prostate Cancer Risk Level

When you do get screened for prostate cancer, your doctor will run a few tests.

One of the tests is the PSA test, a simple blood test that screens for prostate cancer. It looks for larger amounts of protein-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. An elevated PSA test does not always mean you have prostate cancer. It could also reflect that your prostate is enlarged, which is common, or it could signal an infection or inflammation.

Your doctor may also conduct a digital rectal exam (DRE) to check your prostate for lumps.

Depending on the results of these tests, imaging scans and a biopsy may be ordered.

After tests are conducted, your doctor analyzes the results to give you a Gleason Score. This score ranges from 6 to 10. The higher the score, the more aggressive the cancer.

This score, along with your other test results, helps doctors determine if your cancer is “low risk,” “intermediate risk,” or “high risk.”

After testing and your risk has been established, your doctor will discuss possible treatment options. Treatment ranges from “active surveillance,” usually for men with low-risk prostate cancer, which again involves regular testing every six months to monitor the prostate and check for any progression of the disease.

More aggressive treatment options include surgery and radiation therapy.

O’Neal’s Prostate Cancer Treatment and Possible Side Effects

O’Neal said in a forum hosted by the Prostate Cancer Research Institute that he chose to undergo cryotherapy. “I was particularly attracted to the cryotherapy option because of the reduced risk of side effects,” O’Neal said, adding that he hadn’t experienced any side effects at the time.

Cryotherapy is the freezing of cancer cells, and it’s most often used for early prostate cancer. This form of treatment is often thought to have fewer side effects. However, Dr. James Brooks, Chief of Urologic Oncology at Stanford Medicine, says this treatment still has side effects, such as dead tissue in the prostate.

“I’ve had men come in with severe infections of the dead tissue in their prostate that are absolutely miserable,” Dr. Brooks tells SurvivorNet.

“The side effects…they fit the same spectrum of what you see with surgery and radiation therapy. So, it’s sometimes sold as sort of a free ride so that you get fewer side effects from it [but] that’s not the case,” Dr. Brooks adds.

According to the National Cancer Institute, side effects of cryotherapy amid prostate cancer may include problems with urine flow, incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and damage to the rectum.

Questions for Your Doctor

If you have experienced symptoms associated with prostate cancer or have a screening coming up, here are some questions you may ask your doctor:

• If I have elevated PSA levels, what could be causing that besides cancer?
• How long will it take to learn if my PSA levels warrant further testing?
• What are the treatment options that are best suited for me based on my risk level?
• What financial resources exist to help me with the costs associated with treatment?
• How long will my potential treatment prevent me from working or continuing normal activities?

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