Gary Sinise Pays Tribute to Late Son McCanna After Battle With Rare Cancer

Gary Sinise is paying tribute to his son, McCanna Anthony "Mac" Sinise, who died after a lengthy battle with a "very rare cancer" in January. He was 33. The Forrest Gump star, 68, shared the news of his family's loss in a statement on the Gary Sinise Foundation's website and his Instagram page Tuesday, revealing that Mac had passed away "with the family all around him" on Jan. 5

Mac was originally diagnosed with a cancer known as Chordoma on Aug. 8, 2018, a very rare disease that originates in the spine and impacts about 300 people in the U.S. every year, the actor shared. Mac's diagnosis came while his mom, Moira Harris, was battling stage three breast cancer, but while she would go into remission and remain cancer-free, Mac's disease spread and "disabled him more and more as time went on."

Mac underwent five spinal surgeries between 2018 and 2020 and would ultimately become paralyzed due to his illness from the chest down. Mac continued to express his love for music throughout his illness and collaborated with several other musicians on an album titled Resurrection & Revival, which went to press the same week Mac died. Mac's family is ensuring the album will be released and pressed on vinyl in his honor, as Mac's love of music led the drummer to study songwriting and composition at the University of Southern California before he got sick.

"Like any family experiencing such a loss, we are heartbroken and have been managing as best we can. As parents, it is so difficult losing a child," Gary wrote. "My heart goes out to all who have suffered a similar loss, and to anyone who has lost a loved one. We've all experienced it in some way. Over the years I have met so many families of our fallen heroes. It's heartbreaking, and it's just damn hard."

"Our family's cancer fight lasted for 5½ years, and it became more and more challenging as time went on. While our hearts ache at missing him, we are comforted in knowing that Mac is no longer struggling, and inspired and moved by how he managed it," he continued. "He fought an uphill battle against a cancer that has no cure, but he never quit trying."

As a lover of movies, Gary wrote that his family said Mac reminded them of the soldier at the end of the film 1917, "running through the battlefield, bombs going off all around him, knocking him down one after the other, yet he keeps getting back up, refusing to quit and keeps running forward." He noted, "I am so blessed, fortunate, and proud to be his dad."