The Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner has shared a health update amid his battle with an incurable cancer.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I feel great. Until I have any symptoms, there's no treatment. So I go frequently for blood tests," Gerry, 73, shared during the Tuesday, April 15 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

While a cancer diagnosis -- especially during one's senior years -- can be devastating and the treatment daunting, Gerry said he's choosing to remain positive.

"I'm on a six-month schedule now, and I feel optimistic because the doctor has said, 'Well, when you turn 75, we're going to have to do three-month increments,'" Gerry shared.

Gerry therefore learned at his recent doctor's appointment that he definitely has some time left.

"So it's telling me that at least he expects me to live another couple of years to get to that," Gerry noted.

"But the bottom line is I feel really good... I mean this sincerely, from the time I got this diagnosis, it's a privilege to live like you're dying."

Gerry pointed out how he no longer turns down opportunities, and it apparently helps that his new girlfriend is also adventurous and spontaneous.

"I feel like I'm more open to emotions. I'm more open to experiences," Gerry explained.

"The person I'm dating will say, 'Do you want to go do [this or that]?' And before she even gets out the rest of the sentence, I will say yes. So I'm in on everything."

Gerry gushed about how this stage of his life is actually quite "exciting."

The Golden Bachelor star elaborated, "Because you kind of in the back of your head feel like you've got a lot of living to do and you don't know how long you have to do it... and so, in a way, it's really a good thing."

Gerry revealed in December 2024 that he has Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, which is a disease that changes white blood cells into cancer cells that build up in the bone marrow.

Gerry apparently discovered he has cancer -- and that "there is no cure" for it -- in early 2024, when he was still married to his The Golden Bachelor winner Theresa Nist.

After Gerry proposed marriage to Theresa on The Golden Bachelor finale that aired in late 2023, the pair quickly got married in January 2024 for a televised wedding special on ABC.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)  

Three months later, Gerry filed for divorce from Theresa, and then the pair's divorce was finalized in June 2024.

Gerry previously told People that his cancer diagnosis played a huge factor in the couple's decision to split.

"As Theresa and I were trying very hard to find our lifestyle and where we were going to live and how we were going to make our life work, I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer," Gerry recalled in late 2024.

Gerry explained at the time that he wanted to "continue on as normal as possible" in his life.

"And that led me to believing that 'as normal as possible' meant spending more time with my family, my two daughters, my two son-in-laws, my granddaughters," Gerry shared.

"And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority."

Gerry said that after the initial shock of his diagnosis wore off, he regrouped and realized what's most important to him.

"That's where you start to move forward," Gerry explained.

"And I hope that people understand in retrospect now that that had a huge bearing on my decisions and I think probably Theresa's as well."

Gerry apparently hoped this would provide fans with a new perspective on his seemingly sudden breakup with Theresa.

"Maybe [people will see] it wasn't quite a rash, fast decision that people thought," he noted. "That there was something else going on."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

But Theresa told People in December 2024 that cancer had nothing to do with her divorce from Gerry.

"If that was something on his part, maybe, I don't know. But no, that didn't factor into ending the relationship," Theresa claimed at the time.

"Part of it was the distance, but that wasn't the only part. That's really all I will say."

Theresa is still holding down a job in finance in her native New Jersey, while Gerry -- who was born in Iowa -- is a retired restaurateur who lives on a lake in Indiana.

The couple said at the time of their divorce that long distance and not wanting to move away from their loved ones was the main reason why their marriage didn't work out.

But Theresa pointed out to People how four weeks is also a very short amount of time to get to know someone romantically.

"It's a very accelerated pace. During that four weeks, it's not that you're with that person every day anyway. There were only certain times that I was with him one-on-one," Theresa said, referring to her The Golden Bachelor journey.

"I wish him the best. I know that he was in a very difficult situation and that good things will come to him. And I wish for him a long and healthy, prosperous life, and I hope that he finds his person."

She concluded, "I want him to be so happy, and I just wish him all the best of everything in the world."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!




About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS