Interview for USA TODAY

While in New York (24/10), Patrick Dempsey talked to David Oliver for USA TODAY.

During his interview, Patrick discussed his new partnership with Pfizer and the American Cancer Society for the “Change the Odds: Uniting to Improve Cancer Outcomes” initiative. He also opened up about his anxiety regarding his screenings and revealed that he has cancelled his appointments out of fear. He also shared how he remembers his parents.

Watch a short passage of his interview below.

About the importance of cancer screenings and the normal anxiety that comes with them:

“A couple times I’ve had to cancel just because I’ve had so much anxiety the night before that I couldn’t get to sleep because I’m nervous about the outcome. I don’t think I’m alone in that. I think a lot of us, you want to be in denial about it, but once you get it done, you just feel this sense of relief. So it’s just really fighting through and then supporting your friends and getting out there and going, ‘Hey, I get it, it’s hard, but once you get it done, you feel so much better.’ If people know their family history, and if people get their screenings early enough, the chance of surviving is so great.”

In the interview, Patrick shared how he remembers his mother Amanda:

“I feel she’s constantly with me, and certainly, every day I go in, or I’m around talking about the Center, I feel she’s very much inside of me and alive.” [But] “some people don’t get to have that closure with their loved one, and it’s hard, and that’s why our counseling is one of – probably the most – in demand services that we have.”

Patrick also explains how his own experience with grief helps him in his work at the Center:

“I was talking to someone who had just lost a family member recently, and that triggers you and you feel that it brings it all back up, but it’s important to move through that, to feel that and to let it go. And when I go into the Center and I talk to people, I love to be open and listen to them and let them share, and let them talk about it and let them get it out.”

He also took the opportunity to reflect on how own mortality and how he enjoys life more and more:

“I think about my children and wanting to be around because I lost my father so early in life.”

He shared some fond memories as well:

“I remember when I first returned home, there was a pickup truck that was very similar to (my dad’s), and I was convinced I saw him alive, and I was driving around town trying to find that truck. It was really quite interesting. And then I just parked in the parking lot for a minute, and I cried a little bit.” A month later, his father appeared in a dream. “That was the last time I saw him.”

(As for his mom, the pair use to cross-country ski together.) [Now] “anytime it snows, it always reminds me of those moments.”

Patrick also opened up about what he does to take care of himself beyond his cancer screenings. The actor reveals that he stopped drinking 10 years, watches his portion sizes and eats more vegetables:

I try to embrace kale as much as possible, [bu admits] it’s not my favorite.” […] As we get older, we need to keep our bone density up, and that’s going to be preventative going into my 60s, and then hopefully into my 70s. I’m getting older, and I can’t do as much as I want unless I’m training or working out. I want to be around as long as possible and to be with (my kids) as adults, because as they grow and they mature, they become their own people, it’s just awe-inspiring, and I want to be there for them.”

He ends the interview by praising his “amazing” wife Jillian saying “she did her mammogram and her colonoscopy in one day,” he “was pretty proud of her and inspired.”

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Source: usatoday.com