Chadwick Boseman Spoke Emotionally About Helping Kids With Cancer As He Fought His Own Battle

Aug 30, 2020 by apost team

The world is still coming to grips with the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman and his secret battle with cancer.

 As fans continue to pour out messages of love for the late actor on social media, a resurfaced video is going viral, which showed Boseman get emotional as he spoke about children suffering through cancer in a 2018 press conference. The video and his heartbreaking reaction have now been given a new context, given that Boseman was battling cancer at the time–unbeknownst to his fans.

At a press conference for the movie Black Panther in 2018, Chadwick Boseman revealed he was in contact with two children who both had terminal cancer and were “trying to hold on” until the movie would come out in theatres.

“Their parents said, 'They're trying to hold on 'til this movie comes.,’” Boseman is heard saying in the video, visibly emotional.

"To a certain degree, you hear them say that and you're like, 'Wow. I gotta get up and go to the gym. I gotta get up and go to work. I gotta learn these lines. I gotta work on this accent.'”

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"To a certain degree, it's a humbling experience, because you're like, 'This can't mean that much to them.' You know?” he continued.

"But seeing how the world has taken this on, seeing how the movement and how it's taken on a life of its own, I realise that they anticipated something great."

The video has since his death resurfaced, given that it was not known to fans at the time that Boseman himself was also battling colon cancer.

The actor said hearing the children’s stories made the movie all the more important to him.

"I think back now to a kid, and just... you know, waiting for Christmas to come, waiting for my birthday to come, waiting for a toy that I was going to get a chance to experience, or a video game,” he said.

"I did live life waiting for those moments. And so it put me back in the mind of being a kid, just to experience those two little boys' anticipation of this movie."

Towards the end of his heartfelt speech, Boseman breaks down as he reveals to the crowd that both boys passed away before getting to watch the movie. 

His co-stars tried to comfort him, as he said, "And when I found out that they... Yeah, it means a lot."

Chadwick Boseman’s death was announced by his family in the early hours of Saturday via his social media accounts. On a statement shared on his Twitter account, the family revealed Boseman had been quietly battling stage III colon cancer since 2016. By the time he passed away, his cancer had progressed to stage IV.

Our deepest condolences go out to Chadwick Boseman’s family at this difficult time.