By Kayla DeKraker
HGTV’s FLIP OR FLOP star Tarek El Moussa learned he had stage 3 thyroid cancer and testicular cancer when a fan noticed something on his neck.
“A fan’s email saved my life,” El Moussa explained in a discussion with Parade. “Going into Season 2 of FLIP OR FLOP, I remember getting an eerie email from my production company saying they received an email from the network. The email said, ‘I’m a registered nurse from Texas. I noticed there’s a lump on Tarek’s neck. This is not a joke. He needs to get it checked out.’”
He did get the lump checked, which was biopsied with an “atypical” result. Exploratory surgery confirmed thyroid cancer, and testicular cancer was also discovered in the process.
Despite the grim diagnosis, the then 31-year-old El Moussa did not let the new stop him from doing what he loves.
Related: Two-Time Cancer Survivor Tarek El Moussa: ‘I Want to Live For My Kids’
“My response was, ‘The show’s not done…I’m gonna film until the end,’” he explained. “It was really important to me that I didn’t quit, to prove to myself and my family that nothing would stop me from building what I was building. I’m most proud to say that year that I had the surgeries, and I fought the two cancers, and I was in hospitals, I quadrupled the size of my house flipping business.”
El Moussa blames past bad habits and stress for the reason he developed cancer.
“I thought I was rotten. And I thought I was rotten because, you know, I had spent 12 years chain smoking cigarettes, drinking a gallon of vodka a day, working 20 hours a day, trying to become an entrepreneur, trying to pay my bills, trying to build businesses. And I believe that I got sick because of the amount of pressure I put on myself to achieve,” he said.
Today, El Moussa is thankfully cancer free.
Earlier this year, he said, “I wasn’t only diagnosed with one cancer; it turned out in my early 30s I had two cancers. Fortunately it’s been 10 years. I’m in remission from both cancers, I’m thriving, the kids are thriving, and we made it.”
El Moussa shared that the tough experiences gave him a greater appreciation for life.
“Through my experiences of being sick, it’s given me this level of gratitude that I don’t think I would have had if I didn’t go through such awful experiences,” he admitted.
Most recently, El Moussa starred in FLIPPING 101 on HGTV which teaches house flippers “how to turn a profit and avoid the pitfalls most flipping newcomers face.” His appreciation for life keeps him going as he continues his career and focuses on his family.
“The best job l’ve ever had? Raising my kids,” he said in an Instagram post. “If you’re a parent, you know exactly what l’m talking about. There’s nothing more fulfilling in this life than seeing your kids grow up and developing their own personalities. I would do ANYTHING in the world for my kids and that’s why I work so hard every single day so I can show them and teach them as much as possible.”
Thank God El Moussa recovered from cancer and can continue doing what he loves.
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