Mayans M.C. star Edward James Olmos underwent throat cancer treatment last year, the living legend revealed this weekend. Olmos, 76, said he underwent his last round of radiation treatment on Dec. 20. His treatments were so aggressive that his doctors were unsure what his voice would sound like afterward.
“This would be the first time publicly I’ll be coming out and saying it, but I had throat cancer,” Olmos told Mando & Friends podcast host Mando Fresko. “I just finished getting through it. December 20 was my last radiation.” The actor said he was on radiation and chemotherapy treatments for months “as it attacked my throat.” He pointed to a bump on his throat where his “lymph nodes, they burned them out because they shot this area with radiation.”
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Olmos’ five doctors told him point-blank that had no idea what his voice would sound like after the treatments. “I said, ‘What?’” Olmos recalled. Then, the aggressive treatments began.
“We’re shooting your vocal cords, we’re shooting your throat; where you eat, where you swallow, where you talk, breathe, everything goes through here,” his doctors told him. Olmos learned that the throat was the “hardest place” to shoot radiation, adding that many of his friends have died after being diagnosed with throat cancer.
“It’s a very strong disease, cancer is, period, but in the throat, it’s really difficult, because it’s… oof,” Olmos said as he shook his head. “Man, it took a lot. Months and months and months.” He then went on to credit his lifestyle, which includes swimming a mile a day and rowing, with helping him recover. He lost 55 pounds of muscle and is now working to regain his strength.
During some of the Selena star’s treatments, his body wanted to give up. Doctors wanted him to take food through his stomach using tubes, but he didn’t want that. They still had to get 2,500 calories a day into his body, which was “ridiculous… that was so hard,” Olmos recalled. His doctors also gave him “intravenous water” to make sure he wasn’t dehydrated.
“It was an experience that changed me, the understanding of how wonderful this life is,” Olmos said. “I’ve been through some experiences that have gotten me close to death, but that was close.”
Olmos was nominated for an Oscar for Stand & Deliver and played Selena Quintanilla-Pérez’s father in Selena opposite Jennifer Lopez. He also stars as J.D. Pardo and Clayton Cardenas’ onscreen father in FX’s Mayans M.C., which started its fifth and final season on May 24. His other credits include Miami Vice, Battlestar Galactica, Blade Runner, Coco, Dexter and Narcos.
