Originally appeared on E! Online
Scott Hamilton is giving fans an update about his health.
The Olympic figure skater, who won a gold medal at the 1984 games, shared that a pituitary tumor in his brain has returned for a third time—and he won't be seeking treatment.
"When they gave me the diagnosis, they said, 'It's back,'" the 65-year-old told People in an interview published Feb. 21. "And so they brought in this guy, a really young, talented surgeon, and he said, 'We could do the surgery again. It'd be complicated, but we've got really talented people here that we could bring in, and I know we could pull it off if that's an option for you.'"
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However, the World Figure Skating Championship winner—who had the surgery in 2004 and 2010—already knew that he didn't want to go through it again.
"All I felt was just, don't worry about this. Just go home and get strong," he said. "They go, 'Well, what do you want to do?' And I said, 'I think I'm going to go home and get strong.'"
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And while the tumor did shrink after his initial diagnosis in 2016, it started to grow again prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"In my spirit, in my inner being," Hamilton—who was also treated for testicular cancer in 1997—said, "I realized, I'm totally at peace with not even looking at it again unless I become symptomatic."
Today, he has access to targeted radiation, which can help shrink the tumor without surgery or chemotherapy.
Still, despite the hardships he's choosing to focus on the positive.
"I never would've thought to dream that an Olympic gold medal experience would've allowed me to give so much back to my sport," he continued, "and help create a platform to give careers to so many of the greatest skaters in the history of the sport."
And by his side through it all are his wife of 21 years Tracie Robinson, as well as his children, Jean Paul, Aidan, Evelyne and Maxx. As he gushed, "To have my children and just how amazing they are, and my wife and how amazing she is? I never would've thought to dream any of it."
