Edward James Olmos Revealed He Nearly Died After Ceasing Throat Cancer Treatments

Blade Runner star Edward James Olmos revealed in an interview with The Daily Mail that he thought he would die after his body “gave up” following treatment for throat cancer.

“[Death] entered my mind many, many times throughout the process, because you can't swallow, you can't talk, you can't eat, you can't drink, you can't do anything,” the 77-year-old actor frankly admitted.

Olmos explained that he endured a process of cancer treatments so severe “it usually kills you.” But the hardest part came after the treatments had concluded.

“Once they stopped all of the chemo, all the radiation and all the treatment, was when the body gave up,” he recalled. “And that's when it really became difficult.”

He explained that the treatments had “burned out” his throat and lymph nodes, leaving it uncertain whether Olmos would ever speak again. “This area was completely annihilated,” he said. “They told me before I started the treatments, we have no idea what you're going to sound like.”

Olmos continued: “It's the treatment usually that kills you, because what ends up happening, it weakens the body because of the chemotherapy, takes out all your white blood cells. And what ends up happening is you have no immune system. So if I had bad kidneys, bad heart, bad lungs, bad anything, I wouldn't be here right now.”

Miraculously, Olmos began to make a startling improvement around three months after completing his last treatment. “Into 90 days, a hundred days, I was in much better shape,” the actor reported. “And today I feel very strong, and I do a lot of physical exercise…I'm close to 80, so I know I look good, but I'm old.”

Though he’s doing much better now, Olmos learned some valuable lessons from his near-death experience. “It makes you reflect all the way around,” he said. “You definitely have a new lease on life.”

The Miami Vice actor then offered some advice for longevity that’s served him well.

“If you do stuff, you keep your body moving and you keep on stretching, you keep on doing things that most people give up,” Olmos said. “The way you eat, the way you exercise, the way you sleep, basic fundamentals. You have to really understand them. That's the key to your life.”