Source: nypost.com Author: Hailey Eber With his recent hit culinary quest show, “Searching for Italy,” and food-focused cult films such as 1996’s “Big Night” and 2009’s “Julie & Julia,” Stanley Tucci has established himself as not just an actor but also a serious epicurean. But, in his new memoir, “Taste: My Life Through Food” (Gallery Books), the 60-year-old reveals that he almost lost his love for food after he was diagnosed with an oral cancer four years ago. “There were times when I believed I would never ever be able to cook or enjoy a meal again with the people I love,” writes Tucci, who grew up in a large Italian family in Katonah, NY, and spent a year living in Italy in his early teens. When a dentist first told Tucci that the pain in his mouth might be due to an oral cancer of some sort, he writes that he “was stunned to the point of almost fainting.” Kate, his first wife and the mother of three of his children, died in 2009 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. He was eventually diagnosed with cancer of the salivary gland and was hesitant to get treatment having seen how painful and ultimately futile it was for Kate. But knowing the cure rate for his type of cancer was nearly 90 percent — and that his current wife, Felicity, was pregnant — he went through it. Doctors initially wanted to remove the tumor at the base of his tongue, [...]

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Michele R. Berman, MD Actor Stanley Tucci is known for his roles in films such as "The Devil Wears Prada," "The Hunger Games," "The Lovely Bones," "Spotlight," and "Julie and Julia." But now he is becoming known for another role -- cancer survivor. In an interview in the September 2021 issue of Virgin Atlantic's inflight magazine Vera, 60-year-old Tucci revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer at the base of his tongue 3 years ago. "It was too big to operate, so they had to do high-dose radiation and chemo," he explained. Tucci was very reluctant to undergo this treatment, since he had seen the effects of this regimen on his first wife, Kate, who died from breast cancer in 2009. "I'd vowed I'd never do anything like that, because my first wife died of cancer, and to watch her go through those treatments for years was horrible," he said. He was equally concerned about how his illness would affect his five children. "The kids were great, but it was hard for them," he noted. "I had a feeding tube for 6 months. I could barely make it to the twins' high school graduation." Now, Tucci said that he is confident that the cancer is unlikely to return: "[Cancer] makes you more afraid and less afraid at the same time. I feel much older than I did before I was sick. But you still want to get ahead and get things done." And that's exactly what he [...]