A brave James Van Der Beek has been spotted for the first time since revealing his battle with colorectal cancer, Daily Mail reports.
According to the report by Daily Mail, the Dawson’s Creek alum, James Van Der Beek, 47, was spotted grocery shopping with his daughters at a Whole Foods in Austin, Texas on Monday.
The actor emerged from the store with two grocery bags, and his daughter adorably helped him carry their purchases as she grabbed one of the handles.
The star looked in good spirits and was clad in an olive hued tank top, shorts, and camouflage print hat.
James Van Der Beek revealed his diagnosis earlier this month.
The actor said he has been ‘privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it with the support’ of his incredible family.
‘I have colorectal cancer,’ he told People. ‘There’s reason for optimism, and I’m feeling good.’
Colorectal cancer starts in the colon or the rectum, according to the American Cancer Society.
James Van Der Beek has been married to Kimberly since 2010 and they are parents to Olivia, 14, Joshua, 12, Annabel, 10, Emilia, eight, Gwen, six and Jeremiah, three.
He later took to Instagram to reveal that he was forced to go public with his cancer diagnosis before telling his family.
In the post, the star penned to his followers, ‘”It is cancer…” Each year, approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis. And I’m one of them.’
‘There’s no playbook for how announce these things, but I’d planned on talking about it at length with People magazine at some point soon… to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms.’
They piled out of the popular store
James Van Der Beek added, ‘But that plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news.’
Up until then, he had been ‘privately’ battling the cancer as well as ‘getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before.’
He positively explained, ‘I’m in a good place and feeling strong. It’s been quite the initiation, and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready.’
‘Apologies to all the people in my life who I’d planned on telling myself. Nothing about this process has occurred on my preferred timeline…’
‘But we roll with it, taking each surprise as a signpost, pointing us toward a greater destiny than we would have discovered without divine intervention. Please know that my family and I deeply appreciate all the love and support,’ James concluded.
After his health struggles came to light, the actor received a flood of supportive messages from his fans.
In an update, he recently told People that he was ‘cautiously optimistic’ while adding he is ‘in a place of healing, my energy levels are great.’
‘When I’ve been out of the woods completely for what feels like a responsible amount of time, I’ll circle back and let you know. I have a lot to live for.’
In regards to publicly talking about his cancer battle, Van Der Beek explained that he wanted to raise awareness.
‘That’s one of the reasons I want to talk about it and the reason I’m talking about it so openly.’
‘I’ve been dealing with this pretty much in secret for a while, and in the past, I’ve found it helpful and cathartic to share things publicly. And I’ve found a lot of support that way. But more than that, I really wanted to raise awareness.’
He also explained to the publication that he initially thought he simply had issues with his diet before being diagnosed with cancer.
Van Der Beek said that he was good shape and tried to focus on healthy eating, explaining, ‘I’d always associated cancer with age and with unhealthy, sedentary lifestyles.’
‘I thought maybe I needed to stop coffee, or maybe not put cream in the coffee. But when I cut that out and it didn’t improve, I thought, “All right, I better get this checked out…”‘
Next month in December, Van Der Beek will appear in the television series, The Real Full Monty, to help bring awareness to colorectal cancer.