Ernie Hudson recalls a near-death experience while undergoing treatment for rectal cancer

In 2011, Hudson was diagnosed with rectal cancer – greater than a decade after successful treatment for prostate cancer.

Ernie Hudson is lucky to be alive.

According to Peoplethe “Ghostbusters: Frozen” star had a “nightmare” a few years ago when he “almost died” attributable to problems resulting from cancer treatment.

In 2011, Hudson, who had undergone successful treatment for prostate cancer in 1998, discovered that he had rectal cancer.

The married father of 4 recalled that he was in “pretty good shape” on the time, but needed validation as he prepared to play the role of boxer Jack Johnson in a play he had written – which could have saved his life.

“I went for a series of checkups, which there wasn’t really time for, but it was a very physical game,” Hudson said. “And then during the colonoscopy, they discovered this little thing in the rectal area, and then they checked it and it was malignant.”

Hudson scheduled surgery to remove the cancer and was told by his doctor that he would likely need an ileostomy bag, which is used to gather stool “when the colon or rectum cannot be used to remove digestive waste,” People magazine reported.

Despite severe pain, Hudson continued working while wearing the bag his doctor said he would want for six weeks.

“Well, we should have waited three months,” he said. “He took it off too quickly.”

Hudson, 78, remembers waking up one morning with a feeling like a rock in his stomach. His wife, Linda Kingsberg, urged him to go to the hospital, where he learned that poison had entered his body.

“If it had only taken me a few more hours to get there, I probably would have died,” Hudson recalled the doctor telling him.

The actor – who strongly believes in routine testing and early detection – needed additional surgery and needed to have his ileostomy bag re-inserted.

“It was finally healed,” Hudson said, as reported by People magazine.

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