Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian was feeling extra thankful on Thanksgiving as he shared an update on his health following a cancer scare.
The Reddit co-founder, 41, revealed that he underwent preventative surgery to remove “suspicious nodules” in his thyroid that were likely to “turn cancerous”
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, Alexis shared a post-surgery photo of himself in a hospital bed alongside two sweet images of his daughters Olympia, seven, and Adira, 15 months.
“After tracking some suspicious nodules on my thyroid for the last 4 years, I recently got half of it surgically removed,” he began.
“The nodules were getting bigger & the latest biopsy revealed they’d very likely turn cancerous.”
Revealing that he has a history of cancer in his family, Alexis continued: “My mom had breast cancer around this age (41) and then ultimately died from brain cancer a decade or so later. I hate cancer.”
Taking matters into his own hands, Alexis had the surgery, which he revealed went smoothly.
“I wasn’t gonna take any chances; the surgery was smooth and I’m extra grateful this Thanksgiving because I got the call this morning that my now-removed-half-of-thyroid was indeed full of some gnarly nodules that were very likely to become cancerous.”
Finding humor in the worrying situation, Alexis joked that the worst part of the ordeal was the disruption to his usual lifting routine.
He said: “The worst part tbh has been not being able to lift for 2 weeks but big fella will be back at it next week and I took my girls to Disney World this week so life is wonderful.”
Alexis concluded: “To my fellow, men — make those doctor’s appointments — especially if y’all are dads. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.”
His latest health scare comes after he revealed in July that he was diagnosed with Lyme disease, a condition transmitted to humans via infected tick bites.
“Doing a full battery of health scans, tests, etc, and found out I have lyme disease,” he wrote on X. “Wild. No symptoms, thankfully, but gonna treat.”
In a follow-up post, Alexis admitted that the diagnosis came as a shock to him because he doesn’t spend much time in the Northeast or in the wilderness, where ticks are most common.
“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)” he explained. “I spend so little time in the wilderness/northeast this was quite a surprise.”
Alexis added that he was “gonna grab some antibiotics” to combat the ailment, adding: “Can’t keep me down, tick!”
Meanwhile, Alexis recently celebrated his seventh wedding anniversary with Serena and they both shared gushing tributes to each other on social media.
Sharing a photo of his beautiful family, Alexis penned: “7 years ago today, we got married here. Now we get to bring these two for beignets. Happy Anniversary. Thanks for giving me the two greatest humans we’ve ever met. You’re an amazing mama. I’m very lucky to have met you @serenawilliams @olympiaohanian @adiraohanian.”
Serena posted a carousel of photos, including one of the family dressed up in costumes, writing: “7 years has gone so fast… Happy anniversary @alexisohanian thank you for being the best dad to our girls @olympiaohanian and @adiraohanian.”
She added: “Thanks for also making [an] average November day a costume party and making it special.”