Remembering James Van Der Beek — and What He Taught Us About Colorectal Cancer

What he chose to make public

The Associated Press reported that actor James Van Der Beek died at age 48 on Wednesday, February 11, 2026. He had announced a diagnosis of stage 3 colon cancer in November 2024.

That is the record we can stand behind. The Colorectal Cancer Alliance, which worked with him on a public awareness segment in December 2024, said in a statement that he was 48 and that he leaves a wife and six children.

We do not know, and will not guess at, the rest. What his openness did leave behind is a subject worth explaining properly.

A cancer that usually starts as a growth

Colorectal cancer begins in the colon or the rectum. These are the last parts of the digestive tract, where water is drawn out of waste before it leaves the body.

Most of these cancers do not appear out of nowhere. They begin as a polyp — a small growth on the inner lining of the bowel. Many polyps never turn into anything. Some slowly become cancer over years.

That slow start is the whole reason screening works here. A test that finds a polyp lets a doctor remove it. That is prevention, not just early detection. Very few cancers offer that.

What stage 3 means

Stage describes how far a cancer has traveled, not how fast it grows or how a person feels.

In stage 3 colon cancer, the tumor has spread to nearby lymph nodes but has not reached distant organs. Lymph nodes are small filters that sit along the drainage channels of the body. NCI's guidance for clinicians notes that the number of nodes involved matters: people with one to three affected nodes do better than people with four or more.

Stage 3 is treatable disease. It is not the same as stage 4, in which the cancer has reached the liver, lungs, or another distant site.

What treatment usually involves

Surgery comes first. A surgeon removes the segment of bowel holding the tumor, along with the nearby lymph nodes, and joins the two cut ends back together. That join is called an anastomosis.

Chemotherapy usually follows. Drugs given after surgery are called adjuvant therapy — treatment aimed at cells that may have escaped but cannot be seen. NCI lists combinations built around fluorouracil, and often oxaliplatin, given over a period of months.

Tumor tissue is also tested. About 4 percent of advanced colorectal cancers are what doctors call mismatch repair deficient, meaning the cell's spell-checker for copying DNA is broken. Those tumors often respond to immunotherapy, which is why the lab result changes the plan. Our page on colorectal cancer walks through the types and stages in more detail.

The trend behind the headlines

Colorectal cancer is still mainly a disease of older adults, and deaths in that group have been falling. But diagnoses in people under 50 have been climbing since the early 2000s.

The AP reported that researchers at the American Cancer Society found death rates from colorectal cancer in Americans under 50 rose about 1.1 percent a year from 2005 onward. It is now the leading cause of cancer death in that age group. About 3,890 people under 50 are expected to die of it this year.

Nobody has explained the rise. Dr. John Marshall of Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center told the AP that many young patients have none of the usual risk factors, and that changes in gut bacteria are one idea being studied.

Signs that deserve a call this week

None of these means cancer. All of them mean a phone call rather than a wait.

• Blood in the stool, or bleeding from the rectum, at any age.
• A change in bowel habit that has lasted more than a few days — looser stools, constipation, or stools that have become narrow.
• Weight loss you did not plan for.
• Cramping or belly pain that keeps coming back.
• Feeling worn out in a way rest does not fix, which can point to slow blood loss.

Guidelines set 45 as the age to begin routine screening for people at average risk. Anyone with a family history, or with inflammatory bowel disease, should ask about starting earlier. Options range from a yearly stool test to a colonoscopy every ten years, and there is now a blood test for adults 45 and older. Our guide to colorectal cancer screening compares them.

What to keep in perspective

• One person's course tells you nothing about your own. Stage, tumor biology, and treatment response all differ.
• Stage 3 is not a forecast. Many people treated for it are alive and well years later.
• SEER, NCI's cancer surveillance program, reports five-year relative survival of 75.2 percent when colorectal cancer has reached regional lymph nodes, and 91.3 percent when it is still confined to the bowel wall. These are group averages, drawn from people diagnosed between 2016 and 2022. They describe populations, not readers.
• The rise in young-onset cases is real, but the disease remains uncommon before 50. It is a reason to take symptoms seriously, not a reason for alarm.
• Nothing here is a reason to skip a symptom you already have. Persistent changes worth reporting are worth reporting whatever your age.

Sources

• Associated Press: Actors' deaths highlight growing risk of colorectal cancer for Americans under 50
• Colorectal Cancer Alliance: statement on the death of James Van Der Beek, February 11, 2026
• NCI SEER Cancer Stat Facts: Colorectal Cancer
• NCI PDQ: Colon Cancer Treatment (Health Professional Version)
• NCI PDQ: Colorectal Cancer Screening (Patient Version)

How this article was prepared

An AI-assisted editorial system helped prepare this page. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed.

Cancer Explained is published by the National Cancer Information Foundation. It is not medical advice and does not suggest a test or treatment.

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