Days of Our Lives mainstay Suzanne Rogers is opening up about her cancer journey after being diagnosed with stage 2 colorectal cancer this summer. The actress, who has appeared on the beloved daytime drama for the past 52 years as Maggie Horton, spoke with TV Insider in an interview published Thursday about her experience.
Rogers first noticed something “wasn’t quite right” with her health, which led her to seek medical attention. After undergoing a colonoscopy, MRI, PET scan, and biopsy, she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
“[The doctor] said, ‘You have cancer and you have to start treatment,’” Rogers recalled. “It was all a shock. I mean, I think I was in shock for several days because I take pretty good care of myself. But he said, ‘It’s a good thing you caught it in time.’”
Just three days after wrapping on Days of Our Lives on June 13, Rogers began her treatment. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy almost every day for six weeks. Thankfully, the show’s six-week summer break made her absence a little less conspicuous, which Rogers said was helpful. “It gave me even more time to chill and to get myself healthy,” she shared.
During this tough time, Rogers leaned on her friend Sunie Ostermann and her on-screen daughter Linsey Godfrey (Sarah Horton). “It was scary,” she admitted. “When I had to go see a doctor, one of them would go with me because you get to a point where once they say cancer, you don’t hear anything else. I knew I could count on them, so it was a lovely experience on and off the set. We really feel like a family.”
Godfrey, a cancer survivor herself, suggested Rogers share her diagnosis with a few people on set to receive support. As a result, Mary Beth Evans (Kayla Johnson), Stephen Nichols (Steve Johnson), Greg Rikaart (Leo Stark), AnnaLynne McCord (Cat Greene), and her makeup artist at Days all reached out with encouragement. Producers also assured her that “the most important thing” was for her to get better, promising that her role would be waiting when she was ready.
After completing treatment on July 31, Rogers is now making her way back to the set. “I’m feeling really good,” she said. “I start back to work next week, so we’ll see how that goes. Now, I’m feeling anxious like I do any time I get scripts because I want to do my very best and you don’t want to hold up anybody. So that’s the only anxiousness I feel. It’s not because of my illness, let’s put it that way.”
Rogers also reflected on the biggest challenge during her treatment—the fatigue. “I was tired because that’s not like me,” she explained. “I have a lot of energy all the time, so it really kind of shook me thinking, ‘Am I going to get my energy back?’ And it seems like it’s coming back. It’s not 100% yet, but I feel better. Today I feel really good, and that’s happening more and more than the other way around, so I’m really happy about that.”
Because of her hiatus from filming, there will be a period of time in 2026 when Maggie won’t be appearing on the show. Rogers said it’s important for the audience to know why she was absent, especially since she has heard rumors that she had retired or left the series. “I don’t want to upset anybody, but I want them to know what’s going on,” she stated.
As for her health outlook, Rogers is positive and feeling grateful. “It’s so funny because I used to worry about some silly things,” she reflected. “And when you go through this, it kind of takes you a while to say, ‘OK, well, this is what I have, and I will do my very best to fight it and to get through it.’ And that’s what I did. The prayers and the good wishes from my friends and my family helped me stay positive and stay on top of it and beat this.”
https://popculture.com/celebrity/news/soap-opera-star-diagnosed-with-colorectal-cancer/
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