During the February 28 episode of WWE’s Monday Night RAW, Roman Reigns announced that his cancer was in remission. Reigns, 33, had relinquished his WWE Universal Championship back in October 2018 to focus on his health and treating his leukemia, which he was first diagnosed with in his early 20s before this latest recurrence.
The overwhelming response to Reigns announcement was love and support from fans and fellow WWE athletes around the world. But some WWE viewers have started to speculate that Reigns never really had leukemia in the first place.
These conspiracy theorists are touting that Reigns faked his cancer as part of a “work” or storyline for WWE. They are citing the fact that Reigns never lost his hair or lost weight while he was reportedly focusing on his treatment. These conspiracy theorists claimed they never thought Reigns “looked sick.”
Leukemia Care, a UK-based charity for those affected by blood cancer, recognized these “doubts” across Twitter and decided to throw their facts into the ring. We’ll let them explain why this conspiracy about Reigns is not only disrespectful, but totally wrong. They also earn the belt for best GIF use, ever.
Firstly, incredible news about Roman Reigns. Relapse is a scary reality for all leukaemia patients. Either fear of your cancer returning or having to face treatment for relapse. It's great to hear some positive news from a leukaemia patient.
We're going to weigh in here with some leukaemia information. We feel like we know a little bit and the Vince gif is appropriate pic.twitter.com/FzMgSswuIB
The different types are key. Acute leukaemias are aggressive and need aggressive treatment to save a patient. Chronic leukaemias are incurable but treatable.
A key example of this is huge @WWE fan and patient advocate @KrisTheScript who has lived with a chronic leukaemia for the past decade. Does he look like a leukaemia patient to you?
A final few thoughts on the psychological impact of leukaemia. Living with or beyond a leukaemia diagnosis is scary. The fear of relapse is always there. Think before you tweet. pic.twitter.com/PflEnrdUML
So the main takeaway is this: leukemia looks different for everyone, and there isn’t a right or a wrong way to “look sick” and these trolls can get off the internet with this nonsense.
We are so excited Reigns is in remission and able to get back in the ring, and we hope his remission goes smoothly.
