"Still got it!" Val Kilmer, 59, posted Sunday on Instagram along with the poster for “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel to Kilmer’s hit 1986 movie.
Supporters were thrilled that Kilmer, who’d been mostly laying low since going public with throat cancer in 2017, will be back on the big screen. “You can be my wingman. Anytime Val. Anytime,” one fan posted. “So very excited!!!!! Cannot wait Val!!!” wrote another.
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Fans and supporters were also heartened to see Kilmer appear in Manhattan last week at a charity concert at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre, hosted by Robert Downey Jr. The charity concert benefitted The Rainforest Fund, a passion project backed by Sting and his wife, Trudy Styler. After the concert, Kilmer joined a group who headed uptown to the elegant Mandarin Oriental hotel, near Columbus Circle.
Kilmer’s Cancer Journey
The “Batman Forever” star has been on a cancer journey for several years. In January 2015, he was hospitalized for what his spokesperson said were tests for a possible tumor. At the time, Kilmer denied having cancer, saying that, "I have not had a tumor, or a tumor operations [sic], or any operation. I had a complication where the best way to receive care was to stay under the watchful eye of the UCLA ICU." But his haggard appearance and concealing of his neck and throat when in public appeared to belie grave health concerns.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Kilmer finally discussed his cancer, saying it had taken a toll, and that a procedure on his trachea had reduced his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath.
Kilmer likely had a tracheostomy. According to the American Cancer Society, the procedure, which connects the trachea to a hole (or stoma) in the front of the neck, may be needed when throat cancer treatment includes the removal of all or part of the larynx (voice box) or pharynx (throat). The stoma connects to the trachea to allow air to pass in and out of the lungs.
Types of Throat Cancer
We don't know the details of Kilmer’s case, but we do know that there are a few types of throat cancer, and that some kinds are quite curable.
"Hopefully, [the cancer is] just involved in the neck and in the lymph nodes because if that's the case, then we can use our treatments to cure the cancer," Dr. Jessica Geiger, a medical oncologist specializing in head and neck cancer at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet. “If the PET scan shows that the cancer has moved to the lungs or the liver, then our approach would not be to cure cancer but to treat it and to keep it under control.”
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