Gary Sinise entertained audiences for decades as an actor. But the Hollywood icon made the difficult decision to leave Los Angeles behind for Nashville.
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At the time, Sinise wanted to withdraw from the lime light. Both his wife and his son were both battling cancer at the same time in 2021. Sinise wanted to focus on his family and be there for them during this very difficult time for the two.
"We were in the cancer fight during that time," Sinise said. "My wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. My son was diagnosed with this very rare cancer ... within two months of each other. My dad had just had a stroke, and my mom was alone, and I had to ... take care of her. ... I kind of had my hands full."
Sinise and his family faced some good news and some devastating news. While his wife's cancer went into remission, his son's cancer took a devastating turn.
Gary Sinise Talks Son
Our son was fighting this cancer with no cure," Sinise continued. "Trying to find drugs and doctors or anybody that could do anything for him was like a full-time job. Plus, he became more and more disabled by the cancer as time went on. ... He needed more and more care."
Sadly, Sinise's son, McCanna "Mac" Sinise, passed away at the age of 33. He had a rare cancer called Chordoma, which originated in his spine. It affects around 300 people per year. Sinise reflected on the music that his son left behind.
He said, "I will say this about Mac and the album that he made last year ... he had achieved something that he set out to do, which was to record all this music in May and make a full album of it ... that gave me a lot of joy ... just watching him kind of enjoy those moments."
Sinise released his son's music following his tragic passing, launching Resurrection & Revival: Part 2 on November 10.
"This has been a real labor of very deep love. Because a lot of this music, I was not even aware that he had it until I discovered it on ... his files."