Opening up about battling leukemia as a teenager, the comedian admits that surviving the disease helped shape her career.
- Dec 11, 2018
AceShowbiz - Vanessa Bayer remains positive despite having to battle cancer in her teen year. Having been a spokesperson for the nonprofit Gift of Life Marrow Registry, the "Saturday Night Live" alum talked about how grateful she is that her leukemia never reappears.
When reminiscing her childhood battle against the blood cancer, the 37-year-old comedian told The Huffington Post, "I was very lucky." On the reason why she thought that way, she explained, "Once I was treated for leukemia it never recurred, but I know that had it recurred there was a likelihood I would have had to get a bone marrow transplant."
The "Ibiza" actress was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was 15. Having spent two and a half year in treatment, she credited it for shaping her to be who she is today. "I do think surviving something like that definitely affected my sense of humor and made me want to go into comedy because my family, my friends and I all laughed about it a lot," she stated.
In regards to how leukemia affected her jokes, Bayer pointed out, "I just think in general in my comedy there were just so many funny and interesting and awkward moments when I was sick." She added, "I think that kind of getting through that made me be able to see funny things in all situations."
As cancer survivor, Bayer teamed up with Gift of Life, a bone marrow registry to help people battle blood cancer. Speaking of her reason to work with the nonprofit organization, she said, "As a survivor of blood cancer, it was just something really close to my heart. And when I heard about their amazing work they they've done, I definitely wanted to get involved."
She went on encouraging people to sign up for the registry. "It’s nothing scary, it’s nothing crazy," she assured. "I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions - that giving stem cells or giving bone marrow is this scary thing and it’s not."
