Talk show legend, Montel Williams, has many things to be grateful for these days. He’s grateful for his continued recovery progress, following a severe accident at his local gym recently. He’s even more grateful for his daughter, Maressa Williams, winning her battle against cancer…TWICE. Now she’s using her experience to help other people.
Daughter’s Diagnosis
Maressa is now 34 years old, but at the age of 24, she received the most horrifying shock of her life- that she was diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkins Lymphoma, which is a type of blood cancer. She underwent chemotherapy and went into remission, only for the cancer to return just a few months later. After her second wave of chemotherapy treatments, she’s been in remission ever since. However, in a prior Every Day Health article, and also in an interview she and Montel did on “The Dr. Oz Show,” Maressa shared what she’s been going through.
Dr. Oz interview…
Maressa Williams: “Never in a million years did I think I’d be diagnosed with cancer. … At the age of 24, I considered myself a strong person — not infallible or invincible but something very close to it. … Maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle wasn’t just a passion, it came as second nature to me. I watched everything I ate and planned out meals in advance. I took pride in my fitness and was strict about my workout regimen. I participated in bodybuilding competitions in addition to being a full-time nursing student at the Trident Technical College in North Charleston, S.C.” -via Everyday Health
In 2013, she was diagnosed with the disease, after a chance visit to her chiropractor, following a fall she’d had. After doing a standard MRI, it was then that her chiropracter discovered enlarged lymph nodes in her upper body area. From there, further biopsies and tests followed, ultimately returning the diagnosis neither she, nor her parents were expecting:
MW: “When I was first diagnosed, I was angry. I felt sick. I felt vulnerable and lost. I switched back and forth between laughter and tears, simultaneously feeling devastated, hopeful, and confused. Fortunately, both of my parents were with me in the office when I heard the news. We were all in tears and my dad (Montel Williams) kept repeating, almost as a mantra, that I wouldn’t be alone in getting through this and that they would support me throughout the whole process.” -via EH
What Maressa Williams Is Doing To Help Others
Maressa and her dad revealed that soon after she was diagnosed, she felt the need to want to help others in her position, or help those who are not, become aware of how to possibly prevent it and/or look for warning signs.
MW: “From my research, I also found that there was a high prevalence of lymphoma among adolescents and young adults, a fact that I thought required urgent attention from people in my age group and the larger public. To help raise awareness, I immediately threw myself into blogging for my father’s website and Dr. Oz’s blog on my experiences going through treatments. I also began working with the Lymphoma Research Foundation, the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to funding innovative lymphoma research, to do my small part in helping eradicate the disease.”
In 2018, Maressa Williams, a devoted philanthropist, also joined the nonprofit global marketplace, iCause, to further help connect others and raise financial backing for many causes that affect society on every level, including health.
Pretty sure Montel Williams couldn’t be more proud of his baby. Maressa, keep fighting queen!
