It's a Miracle I'm Here

The Gold Medalist Talks About Beating Cancer, His Battle With Brain Tumors and How Faith and Family Keep Him Strong
 

In the new People/Entertainment Weekly Network’s six-part docuseries Scott Hamilton Today (the finale airs May 30)—and, now, in this episode of The Jess Cagle Interview—the beloved Olympic figure skater opens up to People’s editor in chief about his harrowing health scares, from overcoming testicular cancer to fighting three benign pituitary brain tumors, the latest of which has unexpectedly shrunk without treatment. Hamilton, 58, also shares how his mother’s death, his faith and his family (wife Tracie, 47, and their four kids, Jean Paul, 15, Aidan, 13, Evelyne, 13, and Maxx, 8) keep him motivated and positive. “I just want to make life better for others,” he says. “Time is so precious.”

After 1997 you got through testicular cancer, then in 2004 you realized you had a brain tumor. Now it’s the third brain tumor. It’s a benign tumor, and I find the word “benign” incredibly misleading because it’s in fact deadly.