Comedian and actor Moshe Kasher, 46, disclosed on the Father's Day weekend that he had been diagnosed with tonsil cancer and underwent surgery days earlier to remove it.
The diagnosis was HPV-positive tonsil cancer—a form of oropharyngeal cancer, meaning a cancerous tumor at the back of the throat—which was caught at stage 1. According to the Mayo Clinic, HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a viral infection with more than 100 known types, some of which are linked to cancers of the throat, cervix, anus, penis, vagina, and vulva. The Cleveland Clinic notes that HPV-positive tonsil cancer carries a roughly 85 percent five-year survival rate.
On June 19, Kasher underwent a five-hour robotic surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Describing the procedure, he wrote that surgeons "yanked my jaw open for 5 hours and cut it out and then slit my throat and dissected my neck." He said his tongue was left swollen and bruised from the operation.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, this type of surgery—known as transoral robotic surgery, or TORS—is a minimally invasive procedure used to reach hard-to-access areas at the back of the throat and is a standard treatment option for early-stage tonsil cancer. A neck dissection, which involves removing lymph nodes from the neck, is often performed alongside it.
Despite managing the diagnosis privately for months, Kasher said he continued working on set throughout production. "I truly cannot believe I managed to work an entire movie while dealing with this," he wrote, adding that Apatow "could not have been a more kind, supportive and nurturing friend" during the ordeal.
Kasher said he will learn in the coming week whether he needs radiation treatment but said he was confident in his recovery. "The good news is the cancer I have has an incredibly high cure rate (in the 95% zone)," he wrote. "I will find out next week if I need radiation or not but regardless I will be okay."
Before heading into surgery, Kasher and his wife, comedian Natasha Leggero, recorded a 43-minute episode of their podcast, "The Endless Honeymoon," in which Kasher detailed discovering the abnormality and receiving his diagnosis.
"We literally pressed stop and drove to the hospital," he wrote.
In his post, Kasher—who was born in Queens, New York, and raised in Oakland, California, and is also known for roles in "Zoolander 2" and the series "Another Period," according to his IMDb biography—used his platform to urge the public to take HPV seriously. "HPV positive tonsil cancer is an epidemic in men under 55," he wrote. "Get checked and vaccinate your damn kids!"
According to the Mayo Clinic, HPV vaccines are available and protect against the strains most likely to cause cancer.