Edward James Olmos Reveals Throat Cancer Diagnosis: 'We're Shooting Your Vocal Cords'

etonline.com:

Edward James Olmos is recalling the harrowing experience of battling throat cancer. The legendary actor spoke about it publicly for the first time with Mando Fresko on the podcast, saying doctors had to aggressively attack the cancer to the point they were unsure what his voice would sound like after it was all said and done.The 76-year-old actor says he's thankful to be alive after finishing his last round of radiation on Dec.

20. The star credits his relentless pursuit of living a healthy lifestyle — with daily exercise and healthy eating — which he says gave him a fighting chance against a cancer that's cost the lives of many of his friends.«This would be the first time publicly I’ll be coming out and saying it, but I had throat cancer,» Olmos said. «I just finished getting through it.

December 20 was my last radiation. The week before, I'd finished my chemo and [for] months and months I was on radiation and chemo as it attacked my throat.

I still have right here [on my throat] a bump where my lymph nodes, they burned them out because they shot this area with radiation.»Olmos, who famously portrayed Selena Quintanilla's father, Abraham, in the 1997 biopic, also remembers what doctors told him on the day they laid out their plan on how to fight the cancer.«The doctors would say — I had five doctors — the doctors would say right before I started, 'There’s only one thing we have to tell you: We do not know what you’re gonna sound like,'» Olmos recalled.