Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian revealed he recently underwent surgery to remove ‘suspicious nodules’ in his thyroid that were likely to become cancerous.
The 41-year-old Reddit co-founder shared the news on Instagram this Thanksgiving, posting a hospital photo alongside adorable snapshots of 7-year-old daughter Olympia and 15-month daughter Adira, whom he shares with the tennis superstar.
‘After tracking some suspicious nodules on my thyroid for the last 4 years, I recently had half of it surgically removed,’ Ohanian explained.
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‘The nodules were getting bigger, and the latest biopsy showed they were very likely to turn cancerous. My mom had breast cancer around this age (41), and then ultimately passed away from brain cancer a decade or so later. I hate cancer.’
He went on to express his gratitude, noting that the surgery went smoothly.
‘I wasn’t gonna take any chances. I’m extra grateful this Thanksgiving because I got the call this morning confirming that the half of my thyroid that was removed was indeed full of some gnarly nodules that were very likely to become cancerous.’
While he joked about missing his usual lifting routine for two weeks, Ohanian shared an optimistic update.
‘The worst part, to be honest, has been not being able to lift for 2 weeks. But big fella will be back at it next week. Took my girls to Disney World this week, so life is wonderful.’
He ended his post with a reminder to other men: ‘To my fellow dads — make those doctor’s appointments. Especially if y’all are dads. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.’
In July, Ohanian says he has received a diagnosis of Lyme disease, which came as a bit of a shock to him.
He explained his health situation in a series of posts on X/Twitter Tuesday, saying that doctors told him about the diagnosis after he underwent multiple medical procedures.
‘Doing a full battery of health scans, tests, etc, and found out I have lyme disease,’ said the tech entrepreneur, who is father to two children with the tennis icon. ‘Wild. No symptoms, thankfully, but gonna treat.’
Ohanian explained some of the intricate details behind his diagnosis: ‘Good cholesterol is too low. Bad cholesterol is just OK. Gotta work on that. On the plus-side: 822 ng/dL total + 162 ng/dL free testosterone.’
Ohanian said that while he has a family history linked to the ailment, he was caught off-guard by the diagnosis since he did not fall into the group that is typically exposed to the condition geographically.
‘I’ve got a loved one who had it a few years back, showed tons symptoms etc and just couldn’t figure it out until they tested him for it and then found it (treated it successfully, too),’ Ohanian said. ‘I spend so little time in the wilderness/northeast this was quite a surprise.’
Ohanian said he was ‘gonna grab some antibiotics’ to combat the ailment, adding, ‘Can’t keep me down, tick!’ with a picture of The Tick cartoon character.
Ohanian stressed to his 563,700 followers on the platform that he was in no way dispensing health advice to the masses in regard to Lyme disease: ‘Please talk to a doctor!’ he said. ‘Do not listen to me for any health advice!’
The Mayo Clinic describes Lyme disease as ‘an illness caused by borrelia bacteria,’ adding that ‘humans usually get Lyme disease from the bite of a tick carrying the bacteria.’
The clinic noted that while ‘ticks that can carry borrelia bacteria live throughout most of the United States,’ the ailment ‘is most common in the upper Midwest and the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states’ domestically, and ‘also common in Europe and in south central and southeastern Canada.’
People are at higher risk if they ‘spend time where the ticks live, such as grassy, brushy or wooded areas,’ and the best means of prevention ‘is to avoid tick bites when you are outdoors.’
The CDC said that ‘476,000 people may be diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease each year in the United States,’ adding that the total consists of people who are ‘treated based on clinical suspicion but do not actually have Lyme disease.’
The governmental agency said that most cases ‘can be treated with 10-14 days of antibiotics,’ and that doing so in the ‘early stages’ of the disease leads to a rapid and complete recovery.
The disease has been a controversial topic at times, with a January 2023 report from the American Medical Association stating that ‘a lack of evidence-based guidance for how to care for people experiencing persistent symptoms and growing misinformation makes treatment challenging.’
Ohanian is one of a number of prominent names who have publicly emerged about their health battles with Lyme disease.
Others include Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Yolanda Hadid and her daughter, model Bella Hadid, both of whom have been outspoken about their respective battles with the ailment.
Bella last year said that she had undergone 100 days of treatment amid a battle with the condition that stretched nearly 15 years.
Musical artist Justin Bieber in January of 2020 said that doctors had diagnosed him with Lyme disease after being at the receiving end of nasty remarks about his appearance.
‘While a lot of people kept saying Justin Bieber looks like s***, on meth etc. they failed to realize I’ve been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease, not only that but had a serious case of chronic mono which affected my, skin, brain function, energy, and overall health,’ the Grammy-winning artist said on Instagram.
Actor Ben Stiller told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011 that he’d been diagnosed with the ailment in 2010.
‘I got it in Nantucket, Massachusetts, a couple of years ago,’ Stiller told the outlet. ‘My knee became inflamed and they couldn’t figure out what it was, then they found out it was Lyme. I’m symptom-free now, but Lyme doesn’t ever leave your system. It’s a really tough thing.’
