Jeff Bridges has given insight into his months of suffering, which began with a cancer diagnosis and ended almost fatally after a corona infection.
Like a bizarre dream
In the current issue of People magazine Bridges spoke about what he described as “a bizarre dream” of a year-and-a-half-long ordeal. It started when he was doing exercises at home one morning and felt something unusual in his stomach. He went to the doctor, who made a devastating diagnosis: “I had a 12 by 9 centimeter tumor in my body. Like a child in my body It didn’t hurt or anything,” he said.
After the cancer diagnosis, the 72-year-old immediately began chemotherapy by infusion, followed by oral chemotherapy. The first promising went. “They had a cocktail that worked and oh boy did it work fast. The thing just imploded,” says Bridges.
But in January 2021, his health deteriorated when he contracted COVID. The chemotherapy had weakened his immune system, which is why the virus hit him particularly hard.
“I had no defenses. That’s what chemotherapy does – it weakens your entire immune system. I didn’t have anything to fight it off,” Bridges said.
“I danced with death”
He spent almost five months in the hospital suffering from extreme pain. His condition was so bad that he could not turn over in bed without calling the nurse. He also needs an oxygen machine because of his breathing problems.
“I was very close to death. The doctors kept telling me, ‘Jeff, you have to fight. You don’t fight.’ I was in surrender mode. i was ready to go I danced with death,” he says.
Fortunately, his condition improved over the course of therapy. “I started taking baby steps,” says Bridges. Each day brought more strength and more hope. He began working with a physical therapist three times a week.
Bridges is currently on the road to recovery. The actor is excited to be back working on his upcoming thriller series The Old Man alongside fellow actors John Lithgow and Amy Brenneman. “As the show started to form, I thought, ‘Oh, we’ve got something really cool here,'” Bridges concluded.