Dolph Lundgren has revealed that he considered ending his life during the most difficult period of his cancer treatment and asked his brother Johan for help with this. The 68-year-old Rocky 4 star writes in his new memoir, *Fights Worth Fighting: Finding Strength in Struggle*, that he considered countries such as Switzerland, which legally offer terminally ill patients the option of suicide.
Lundgren was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2015, and in 2020 he was told that the tumors had spread. In early 2022, cancer specialist Dr. Alexandra Drakaki reexamined the samples and determined that the diagnosis was incorrect and that the disease was actually lung cancer. The actor said he was depressed during this period and had almost lost hope.
Lundgren announced in 2024 that he had overcome cancer. In a video filmed at a hospital in Los Angeles, he said he would undergo lung ablation to eliminate the last tumor. According to Mayo Clinic, this is a minimally invasive procedure that destroys tumor tissue by heating or cooling it. Thanking people for their messages of support, the actor said, “It will take a little more to break me.”
Why it matters
What Lundgren went through shows that, in cancer treatment, the accuracy of a diagnosis is not merely a medical detail; it can directly affect the course of treatment and the patient’s mental state. The reassessment of a disease believed to be kidney cancer as lung cancer raises questions about the consequences of reviewing previous information and samples again when necessary. The disclosure of suicidal thoughts also shows that psychological support during periods of serious illness cannot be considered separately from treatment decisions. His consideration of the legal regulations in countries such as Switzerland also brings into view the debate surrounding terminal illness, an individual’s right to make decisions, and the limits of the healthcare system. However, it remains unclear to what extent the misdiagnosis changed the treatment in this process and what support is offered in similar situations.