James Van Der Beek has announced that he has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

James Van Der Beek shared that he was diagnosed colorectal cancer.

The Dawson’s Creek star shared statement about his health status on Instagram on Sunday after first breaking the news. People.

“It’s cancer…” Every year, approximately 2 billion people around the world are diagnosed with this disease,” he wrote, “and I’m one of them.”

He went on to explain his decision to share the news over the weekend.

“There are no guidelines on how to announce these things, but I planned to talk in depth about this with People magazine at some point soon… to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms,” ​​he continued. “But that plan had to change early this morning when I was informed that the tabloid was going to publish the news.”

Van der Beek wrote that he had “been doing it privately so far, getting treatment and looking after my general health with more attention than ever before.”

Despite the health news, he shared that he was hopeful for the future and apologized to those who learned the news from the press.

“I am in good health and feeling strong,” he wrote. “It was quite an initiation and I will tell you more when I am ready. I apologize to all the people in my life that I planned to tell myself. Nothing about this process happened on my preferred schedule… But we roll with it, taking every surprise as a signpost pointing us to a greater destiny than we could have discovered without divine intervention.”

“Please know that my family and I deeply appreciate all the love and support,” he concluded. “More to come.”

In the post, he also shared a video montage of his photos, as well as one image of one of his children, set to Richard LaForge’s song “Autumn Breeze.”

ABC News has reached out to his representative for comment.

Colorectal cancer begins in the colon or rectum and is often called colon or rectal cancer depending on its location. American Cancer Society, It added that most cases begin with polyps – growths on the inner lining of these organs – which become more common with age. For this reason, regular colonoscopy screenings can not only help detect colorectal cancer, but also help prevent it, since a polyp can take 10 to 15 years to develop into cancer.

Van Der Beek is not only an actor, but also a very family man. He is father of six children, which he shares with his wife Kimberly.

The actor regularly shares news about his family on his social network.

On Instagram mail Last week, Van Der Beek was pictured dressed as a pirate as he shared his favorite Halloween moment with his family.

“I made all my costumes as a kid,” he wrote in the caption. “I really had no choice. But I liked it. This probably should have been the first warning to my parents that I would become an actor .”

He continued, “But in the world of the SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN…my six-year-old was devastated that her angel costume didn’t arrive in time for trick-or-treating. After admitting to tears, she was given a project to create her own halo, which she worked on for HOURS – wrapping yellow yarn around garden wire. So focused that he probably didn’t even believe it was possible. And the look of pride on her face when she saw the final project in the mirror was…my favorite Halloween moment. .”

Earlier this year Van Der Beek shared a moment of pride being a father when his daughter Olivia sang Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” on the TV show “We Are Family,” in which little-known celebrity relatives perform duets with their hidden famous family members.

“I’m very proud of my dad tonight. “My firstborn daughter was on Fox’s ‘We’re Family’ tonight,” he said in an Instagram video at the time, before sharing behind-the-scenes clips of sweet moments with Olivia in his first on-set trailer, her rehearsal with producers and Van Der Beek singing along with his daughter while watching the broadcast from backstage.

“So proud of my girl,” he wrote in the caption. “And I call her that because when I watched her tonight, all I could see was a newborn in a crib that I couldn’t stop staring at in awe.”

Despite his diagnosis, Van der Beek remains active in his career: He recently appeared in an episode of Walker and will soon star in the Tubi original movie Side Jobs: The QB and Me, premiering November 29.