‘Golden Bachelor’ Gerry Turner Shares Bone Cancer Diagnosis + Impact on Marriage: ‘I Didn’t Want to Admit It’
His ex-wife Theresa Nist also commented on the diagnosis, saying she ‘was extremely upset’
Bachelor Nation’s first-ever Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner recently revealed that he has bone marrow cancer—plus how it affected his short-lived marriage to contestant Theresa Nist.
“As Theresa and I were trying very hard to find our lifestyle and where we were going to live and how we were going to make our life work, I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer,” the 72-year-old reality star told PEOPLE Magazine.
How Gerry Turner discovered he had cancer
He then went on to detail how, three years ago, he was teaching a pickleball class and got knocked over and landed on his shoulder, hard. At the time, he didn’t go to the doctor and instead went on to do various life events, including being cast in The Golden Bachelor.
“Finally I got around to going [to the doctor], and the orthopedic surgeon said, ‘Yeah Gerry, there’s not much we can do for your shoulder, but there are some unusual blood markers here,'” Turner recalled. “And so an orthopedic surgeon went to my family doctor, my family doctor referred me to an oncologist and now I’m working with a hematology-oncology group in Fort Wayne.”
He was then diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, which he says “there’s no cure for,” though many patients with the disease live for years after the diagnosis and with a good quality of life through palliative care and treatment.
“That weighs heavily in every decision I make,” Turner continued. “It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me. And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit to it.”
The emotional toll on his marriage
While dealing with his diagnosis, Turner was also dealing with being a newlywed again, and knowing that despite all the joy they were experiencing, he knew he had to tell his wife.
“The conversation was brief and I think [she was] a little bit awestruck by the news,” Turner said, before sharing how the diagnosis changed his perspective on life.
“I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that led me to believing that as normal as possible meant spending more time with my family, my two daughters, my two sons-in-laws, my granddaughters,” he said. “And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.”
He then went on to say that the cancer was a factor in the divorce, detailing his hopes “that people understand in retrospect now that it had a huge bearing on my decisions and I think probably Theresa’s as well.”
“Hopefully, they’ll look at things a little bit differently, that maybe it wasn’t quite a rash, a fast decision that people thought. That there was something else going on.”
Nist has commented on her ex-husband’s diagnosis, telling PEOPLE she “was extremely upset.”
“He told me, though, that it was the type of cancer that he would most likely outlive,” the 71-year-old continued. “He’s a very positive person, and I am too, and I know that he will do the best that he can to make this a positive experience.”
“And I have every faith that is going to work out that way, that it’s going to be the type of cancer that will not affect his life and that he’ll live to be a very healthy old age.”
What you should know about bone marrow cancer
Bone marrow cancer occurs when stem cells or plasma begin to grow abnormally and at a rapid pace within a person’s bone marrow. Symptoms include pain within your bones, weight loss, infections and shortness of breath. The most common way to rid the body of cancer is by chemotherapy, radiation and stem-cell transplants, but those aren’t always effective.
For Turner, in particular, his course of treatment remains unclear, but he does plan to live his life to the fullest for now.
“I’m going to pack as much fun as I possibly can into my life and enjoy every moment,” he said. “And when I’m gone, I’m gone, but I’m not going to have regrets.”
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