4. Ryan O’Neal
When actor Ryan O’Neal, 75, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, it wasn’t his first bout with cancer: He was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 2001, for which he was treated with the cancer drug imatinib. It put his leukemia into remission, and he continues to take it today. Initially O’Neal told news sources he had stage 4 prostate cancer, but it was later described as stage T2b, meaning it was in more than half of one side of the prostate and confined to the prostate, according to the American Cancer Society.
O’Neal was treated with targeted cryotherapy and, in an interview with the Prostate Institute of America, said, “I was particularly attracted to the cryotherapy option because of the reduced risk of side effects,” he said, adding, “I haven’t had any residual effects.” Indeed in 2015 he was back on stage, costarring with Ali MacGraw in a production of the play Love Letters.