“Shark Tank” star Daymond John says the “bless” tattoo on his chest takes on a whole new meaning these days.
John, 48, who is the founder of FUBU (For Us By Us) clothing line that was a phenomenon in the 1990s and is now the rage in parts of Asia, is the father of three daughters, but he now has a new reason to feel blessed: he recently tackled cancer.
The reality TV investor spoke with “Good Morning America” Wednesday morning about being diagnosed with stage two thyroid cancer after a routine physical revealed a nodule on his thyroid.
“They said you can take it out if you want, you can leave it in,” he told Robin Roberts, who endured her own battle with breast cancer in 2007. “I didn’t skip a beat. When I got some early detections, I understood that I had a challenge and if I would attack it now, then I wouldn’t let it attack me.”
John said the thyroid is a “very slow-growing cancer,” and that he still has half of his thyroid in so he can fight in case the cancer returns.
“I’m good, and I want to share this with people because that’s what success is,” he said. “It’s staying in your family’s lives, it’s being around. I want to be there for (my daughters) to keep yelling at me and ignoring me.”
John also urged viewers to take control of their fate, and get mammograms, colonoscopies, and pap smears to ensure any potential cancer is caught early on.
“There’s a saying — a man with his health has a thousand dreams. A man without his health only has one,” he said.
The season eight finale of “Shark Tank” is set to air on ABC this Friday. John has been a popular figure on the show, which is approaching its 200th episode, since 2009.
