“Tarzan Dan” Freeman was on top of the world in mid-May. He’d landed the job of his dreams as the network midday host at Bell Media’s Bounce Radio just three months earlier and was basking in the afterglow of being celebrated at the City of Calgary’s “White Hat” Awards.
Freeman woke up from a nap on May 17 with a resting heart rate of 185 bpm. It was during the subsequent hospital visit that he learned he had cancer.
The veteran radio host is now going public with his diagnosis as he comes out on the other side of an ongoing treatment plan and looks to make his return to the airwaves after a four and a half month break.
“After numerous inquiries about my absence on the radio over the last little while, I wanted to let you know what’s been going on,” Freeman told listeners, in a video released Friday morning.
“In May, I was admitted to hospital after a sudden and unexpected cardiac event. I was diagnosed with cancer. A blood cancer of the plasma cells called multiple myeloma. An off-shoot of the cancer cells have dropped proteins called amyloid in my heart. Eighty per cent of my bone marrow was cancer when it was found,” he explained. “After a lengthy stay in hospital, I have been taking time to heal and recover to a point I can come back and do what I love, hanging out with you every day on the radio.”
During a phone call Thursday, it’s clear Freeman’s sense of humour has returned, despite a rough few months.
“Literally four months ago, I could barely walk up the stairs,” he told Broadcast Dialogue. “I had lost over 25 pounds in the hospital and put on 10…I don’t suggest that it’s a great idea to get cancer to lose weight, but my wife is like ‘you have abs now.'”
“I am who and I am and I’ve been surrounded by incredible people and incredible teams, who have advocated for me,” relayed Freeman, who is best known for hosting six seasons of YTV national countdown show, The Hit List, in the 1990s. He said his spirits were buoyed by those who checked in with him over the summer, including Backstreet Boys and Barenaked Ladies.
“Ed [Robertson] had said ‘it’s important we come and see you,'” said Freeman, who met with Barenaked Ladies when they were in Calgary for Stampede in July. With the band’s keyboardist Kevin Hearn having battled cancer, not once but twice, Freeman said that gave him optimism.
“He’s been living with it and that gave me a lot of hope,” said Freeman. “There’s a lot of people who have checked in, so the support of colleagues and friends and family has been really, really great. The number of listeners who have checked in as well, saying ‘just get better and come back because we miss you.'”
“I’ve kept a really positive attitude. All things are going in the right direction. I feel very hopeful and talking to other people with myeloma and the teams, this is something that used to be a death sentence and it’s not anymore,” said Freeman, who lost his own father to mesothelioma, related to his work in construction. “If you don’t know somebody that has had cancer, you do now.”
Freeman doesn’t have a date for his return to work, but is hoping to get back on-air soon.
“If I have learned anything thru this process, tell the people closest to you how much they matter, and never take anything for granted,” Freeman said in his video sign-off. “Live to leave your mark and be a positive light in your journey.”
Tarzan Dan was a guest on Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast earlier this year. Listen to that episode here:
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