Health issues

Johnny Ruffo speaks out after gruelling radiotherapy

Oct 17, 2017

Johnny Ruffo attends the Save Our Sons Gala at The Star on September 16, 2017 in Sydney, Australia.

Television favourite Johnny Ruffo has stepped out in Sydney for a well-earned night off after completing radiotherapy treatment for brain cancer.

The popular actor was joined by his girlfriend Tahnee Sims at the glamorous premier of Thor: Ragnarok where he gave an update on the challenges he faces next in his battle against cancer.

Ruffo told Channel 7’s Be that he was trying to positive as he prepares to undergo chemotherapy after completing a gruelling round of radiotherapy just weeks ago.

“I’ve just finished six weeks of radio therapy which is great,” he said.

“It’s been a huge eye-opener you know and it’s put things well into perspective.

“Now I kind of just want to focus on the things that are important to me.”

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Ruffo recently told The Project that he dismissed his symptoms for months, brushing off his persistent headaches as sports injuries or hangover pains.

After he finally went to the emergency room with a migraine doctors discovered a seven-centimetre tumour at the front of his brain and quickly admitted him to the operating theatre. The size and position of the tumour meant he was prescribed an intense round of radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy to properly treat the disease.

“They could only remove 95 percent of it due to where it was positioned, close to the nerve endings, I believe,” he told The Project host Carrie Bickmore. “So the remaining five per cent they decided radio therapy and chemo therapy was the best option for it.

“The surgeon said it could have been potentially growing from two years to 10 years. Initially I thought maybe I was a bit depressed so I’d even gone to the doctor. The doctor said all the symptoms seem like it is depression.

“After having found the tumour, the neurosurgeon said it was not depression at all, it was because there was so much pressure being put on your brain it was causing all these different symptoms.”