Australian actor and singer Johnny Ruffo has revealed that his biggest fear amidst his battle with brain cancer is that his immediate family and partner Tahnee Sims, won’t be around him when he dies.
Ruffo told Daily Telegraph that he hasn’t given up trying to beat his cancer but is realistic about the disease’s possible outcomes.
“I’m still trying to kick its arse,” he said.
“I’m still doing treatment. Wednesday this week I’m doing my next round of chemo.”
However, Ruffo said if the cancer that he has been battling for the past five years does kill him, his biggest concern is how it will affect his loved ones.
“I’m scared for my brother, my mum, Dad and Tahnee that they won’t be here with me (when I die),” Ruffo said.
“There is no way my family will all be here. The likelihood of that is (slim). It would be ideal if everyone was there – not for my sake, but theirs.”
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Ruffo met his girlfriend Tahnee Sims at a dance studio in 2015 and the pair have been dating ever since. Ruffo told the publication that she has been his rock throughout his struggle with the devastating disease.
“She is living with it as much as I am. She is here with me every step of the way. I’m so very grateful to have her by my side, I don’t know what I would do without her. I genuinely don’t — she’s my guardian angel.”
Ruffo said that helping other people – especially young children – helps to distract him from his ongoing health battle.
“Helping the kids feels good. It really helps. I found myself genuinely laughing,” Ruffo said of the Playmakers project and working with the kids on a stop motion film.
“You get to help take them away from the everyday reality of what they’re going through. Even if it‘s for a day or a few hours, it means the world, not only to them but me as well.
“It’s not fun having to through all of this (cancer), anything to take you away from that is such a reprieve.”
Ruffo was first diagnosed with the devastating disease in November 2017. Appearing on 7NEWS Spotlight in June of this year, the actor and singer emotionally recalled receiving the diagnosis. Ruffo revealed that he was taken to the emergency room after suffering from chronic headaches.
“They told me I have brain cancer. And it was like, wow, my whole world just got flipped upside down,” he said.
“The day that it truly sunk in was maybe, I don’t know, three or four weeks into radiotherapy.
“I was at home one day, and I was watching television, and I just went to just scratch my hair, and I had a whole clump of hair in my hand, and I just broke down and I cried and cried and cried.
“And I went and sat in the shower and I just ripped all my hair out and I cried so much, and it was the worst day of my life. It was horrible.”
After rounds of chemotherapy, Ruffo officially went into remission in 2019, but the brain cancer returned in 2020.
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