Luke Perry had faced cancer scare before his stroke
The star spoke openly about his health problems
By Frances Sheen
March 05 2019
The death of Beverly Hills, 90210 actor Luke Perry shocked Hollywood and his fans but the fatal stroke he suffered last week wasn't his first brush with a serious illness.
Back in 2015, Luke, who also starred in Riverdale, had a colorectal cancer scare when doctors found and removed precancerous growths from the actor.
“If I had waited [to be screened], it could have been a whole different scenario,” he told Fox News in 2017 after making a full recovery.
The close call forced him to nearly give up his love of red meat.
“I have significantly cut down on the amount of red meat that I eat,” he said. “I used to be like a steak-and-potatoes-every-night kinda guy, now it’s just for special occasions.”
Perry also smoked cigarettes as a teen and was known for lighting up in his role of bad boy Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills, 90210 and during media interviews.
He added that more early screenings could prevent deaths from colorectal cancer.
He admitted, "When I heard that this was the most detectable cancer that we know of yet it’s the second most lethal, I just couldn’t figure out why that was and I wanted to get out there and tell people about it."
The actor was rushed to hospital last week suffering from a huge stroke, but never regained consciousness and died on Monday.
His rep confirmed the sad news in a statement, revealing that Luke had been surrounded by his family when he slipped away.
The spokesman said: "Actor Luke Perry, 52, passed away today after suffering a massive stroke.
"He was surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, fiance Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, mother Ann Bennett, step-father Steve Bennett, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder and other close family and friends."
He was married to Rachel Sharp from 1993 until 2003 and they had two children, Jack, 21, and Sophie, 18.
At the time of his death he was engaged to fiance Wendy Madison Bauer.
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