McCanna “Mac” Sinise, the son of actor Gary Sinise, died from a rare form of spinal cancer in January, the “CSI: NY” star announced on his foundation’s website. He was 33.
Mac Sinise died on Jan. 5 after a 5 1/2-year battle with chordoma, Entertainment Tonight reported. According to the Mayo Clinic, chordoma is a rare type of bone cancer that mostly occurs in the bones of the spine or skull.
Gary Sinise, 68, also announced his son’s death in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“Like any family experiencing such a loss, we are heartbroken and have been managing as best we can. As parents, it is so difficult losing a child. My heart goes out to all who have suffered a similar loss, and to anyone who has lost a loved one,” the actor wrote on the Gary Sinise Foundation’s website. “We’ve all experienced it in some way. Over the years I have met so many families of our fallen heroes. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s just damn hard. Our family’s cancer fight lasted for 5 ½ years, and it became more and more challenging as time went on. While our hearts ache at missing him, we are comforted in knowing that Mac is no longer struggling, and inspired and moved by how he managed it.”
Mac Sinise was diagnosed with chordoma in August 2018, according to Deadline. The prognosis came two months after Gary Sinise’s wife, actress Moira Harris Sinise, was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.
“What was happening?” the “Forrest Gump” actor wrote. “What is Chordoma? I had never heard of this. And two cancer patients, mother and son, within two months of each other? A real punch in the gut.”
Sinise’s wife underwent several months of treatment and her cancer has since been in remission, USA Today reported. But Mac Sinise’s cancer began to spread, even after a tumor was removed in May 2019, according to the newspaper.
The younger Sinise threw himself into his music and completed an album in the year leading up to his death, Entertainment Tonight reported. He taught himself how to play the harmonica and teamed up with a friend to finish the album, “Mac Sinise: Resurrection and Revival.”
“The week the album went to press, Mac lost his battle with cancer,” Gary Sinise wrote.
The actor wrote that by sharing his family’s story, he hoped to “shine a little bit of light” on a difficult time.
“Mac was truly a light for all of us,” he wrote. “An incredible inspiration to those who knew and loved him, he faced his battle with grace, courage, and love. Even with one setback after another, he never stopped living and learning, creating, and giving, and loving. He loved all our family.”
Mac Sinise was buried on Jan. 23, according to the foundation’s website.
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