Speaking about the passing of his son, “Mac,” actor Gary Sinise explained that faith helped his departed son and helped him make it through the pain of watching his son die, particularly at a time when his wife was also diagnosed with cancer, either event of which could have proved debilitating but was not because of his Christian faith.
Such is what Sinise told Christian Broadcasting News, explaining that his son, who died from a form of rare, fast-moving spinal cancer, loved his Catholic faith and that that faith is what supported him as he attempted to fight off the terrible cancer.
Explaining how Mac’s faith helped him, Sinise told CBN, “I know his faith played a strong part in helping to sustain him through this battle. And I was there with him every step of the way in these hospital stays and with [him] those final days before he died and saw him struggling.” He added that Mac managed to be fulfilled by what he had managed to accomplish in his life before his early death, saying, “But I knew that he was fulfilled with what he’d accomplished at the end.”
Sinise also explained how Mac left a special prayer book for his mother, one he relied on in life, saying, “That was his special prayer book that he left his mother. He wrote in it, ‘At my passing, give to mom,’ and a lot of things [are] underlined in there.”
Sinise, also Christian, went on to explain to CBN how watching his son die of spinal cancer and finding out at the same time that his wife, Moira, had stage three breast cancer was an extremely grueling experience that could have left him crushed but, though his emotions were painful, he eventually made it through and came out on the other side stronger and more knowledgable about his faith and what it means.
He added, “Have there been times where I just kind of fell down on the stairs and kind of let the emotion out … because, at times, I didn’t know what else to do? I was trying to do everything I could to find solutions for Mac and his cancer.”
Sinise went on to explain how his charity foundation, which mainly serves veterans and their family’s aims to combat such pain and sadness for others, helping them make it through similarly painful times when they’re in need of emotional support. Sinise said, “All those broken families that I’ve had the privilege to touch over the years — our veterans, and first responders, and Gold Star kids … they’ve all had those moments where they buckle, and they fall down. Somebody has to reach out, and touch you, and help to pick you up.”
Sinise also spoke about how such emotional support helped him after he shared his story about Mac, saying, “After I posted the story, it’s incredible the amount of love that poured out to us after people read that the media picked it up. So, it went all over the place, but social media picked it up, and millions of people saw it, and we started to receive this outpouring of support, and love, and expressions of grief, and sharing their own experiences of losing their own sons or daughters.”
Featured image credit: By Daniel Schwen – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4588145