Actor James Van Der Beek, best known for leading roles in the ‘90s TV series Dawson’s Creek and the film Varsity Blues, has died at 48 after a battle with colorectal cancer. He leaves behind a wife, Kimberly, and six children ranging in age from 4 to 15.
The news was announced on Instagram without citing where he died or a specific cause of death.
Van Der Beek first opened up publicly about his colorectal cancer diagnosis in 2024.
“I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before,” he said in an Instagram post. “I’m in a good place and feeling strong.”
Early Warning Signs
“I’d always associated cancer with age and with unhealthy, sedentary lifestyles. But I was in amazing cardiovascular shape. I tried to eat healthy — or as far as I knew it at the time,” Van Der Beek said.
When he first started experiencing bowel movement symptoms, Van Der Beek said he blamed his diet. “I thought maybe I needed to stop coffee,” he said in the 2024 interview. “Or maybe not put cream in the coffee. But when I cut that out and it didn’t improve, I thought, ‘All right, I better get this checked out.’”
He said in the interview that he got a colonoscopy, but wasn’t expecting the results. “The gastroenterologist said — in his most pleasant bedside manner — that it was cancer. I think I went into shock,” Van Der Beek said.
Typical Colorectal Cancer Treatments
When Van Der Beek shared his diagnosis with People, he didn’t go into detail about his specific treatment regimen.
“If you’ve heard about it, I’ve probably touched on it,” Van Der Beek said. “This has been a crash course in the mastery of mind, body, and spirit. I thought, ‘This is either going to take me out of the body, or it’s going to teach me how to truly live in it.’”
The Devastating Cost of Cancer
On his 48th birthday, Van Der Beek shared a video on Instagram, titled “What Cancer Taught Me,” that described the previous year as the toughest of his life.
In the video, Van Der Beek described how hard it felt to “look my own mortality in the eye” and to be unable to support his wife and kids during his treatments.
“I could no longer be a husband who was helpful to my wife. I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids and put them to bed and be there for them. I could not be a provider because I wasn’t working,” Van Der Beek said in the video.
According to an online fundraiser organized through GoFundMe, the cost of cancer treatment also left Van Der Beek and his loved ones reeling. “In the wake of this loss, Kimberly and the children are facing an uncertain future,” the GoFund Me post says. “The cost of James’s medical care and the extended fight against cancer have left the family out of funds.”
Research has shown that cancer patients are nearly 5 times more likely to experience bankruptcy compared to those without the disease, a phenomenon known as financial toxicity.
As of February 12, the GoFund Me campaign has raised more than $1.7 million, with over 35,000 donations.
Colorectal Cancer Is a Leading Cause of Cancer Deaths for Adults Under 50
Colorectal cancer deaths among adults under 50 have increased about 1 percent a year annually since 2005, the study found.
Overall, cancer deaths among people under 50 have declined by 44 percent since the early 1990s, this study found. Among the five most common causes of cancer-related deaths in younger people, only deaths from early-onset colorectal cancer have increased.
Three in four people under 50 aren’t diagnosed until tumors are more advanced and harder to treat, this study also found. This may be because early-stage colorectal cancer doesn’t often cause symptoms.
Preventable risk factors contribute to more than half of colorectal cancer cases in the United States. These factors include obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, heavy alcohol use, eating too much red and processed meat, and consuming too few fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Screening Recommended Before 50
The majority of colorectal cancer cases are still diagnosed in people over 50, but increasing fatalities among younger adults has prompted a shift in screening recommendations to catch tumors sooner.
Colorectal Screening Options
- Home-Based Stool Tests These home tests can be done annually to look for evidence of blood that might point to cancer, or every three years if the lab also tests for altered DNA that can indicate cancer.
- Flexible Sigmoidoscopy For these tests, a doctor puts a thin, flexible tube into the rectum to look for polyps or cancer in the rectum and the lower third of the colon. The procedure can be done every five years, or every ten years if combined with an annual stool test. It doesn’t require sedation.
- Colonoscopy Doctors use a longer tube to look for polyps or cancer in the rectum and the entire colon. This procedure does require sedation, but the advantage is that doctors can remove most polyps and some cancer they find. It needs to be repeated every ten years.
- Virtual Colonoscopy This procedure uses X-rays and CT scans to take images of the entire colon. It needs to be repeated every five years.