Taye Diggs recently highlighted the importance of early cancer detection after losing his mother and stepfather to cancer.
For those unaware, the 55-year-old American actor and singer’s stepfather, Jeffries Diggs, succumbed to colon cancer in 2004, whereas his mother, Marcia Berry, passed away in 2019 soon after she was diagnosed with cancer.
Chatting with PEOPLE magazine, Taye shared that “both my parents, unfortunately, passed a little earlier than expected from various cancers.”
“When something bad happens and you realize that it can be avoided when people don’t take advantage of it, that annoys me. Take my situation. Both my parents passed, both of them,” he warned.
While conversing with choreographer Mandy Moore in 2024, the All American star revealed that his mother Marcia, a performer, professor and Ph. D. candidate at Missouri University, “didn’t tell anybody” about her diagnosis in the beginning.
“She was feeling weird, but she’s a trooper. It got so tough that we took her to the hospital, and then that’s when they were like, ‘Okay, she’s got cancer. She doesn’t have much [time].’ And then boom, she was gone,” Taye recounted.
After losing both his parents, The Best Man alum is collaborating with Cancerguard, a blood-based, multi-cancer detection test for adults. The test highlights any unusual protein markers, prompting people for further investigation.
Notably, Cancerguard will not replace cancer screenings; it will only assist.
He quipped, “I had no idea that anything like this even existed. If they had, I wouldn’t be in the position that I’m in today.”
“So now that we know we have amazing tools like this through Exact Sciences, there’s no excuse for people to just not go out and just get the test,” Taye stated.
