{"id":289672,"date":"2025-11-17T04:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T04:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/289672\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T04:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T04:40:12","slug":"actor-jarryd-nurden-returns-to-stage-after-losing-half-his-lung-to-rare-form-of-lung-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/289672\/","title":{"rendered":"Actor Jarryd Nurden returns to stage after losing half his lung to rare form of lung cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor<\/a> Jarryn Nurden has returned to the stage after losing half of his lung to a rare form of cancer<\/a> \u2013 a cancer he initially thought was the flu.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old actor moved to London from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in late 2021 to pursue his acting dream on the West End<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But soon after he came down with what he initially thought was a “very bad flu”.<\/p>\n

\"JarrydActor Jarryd Nurden has returned to the stage after losing half his lung to cancer. (Instagram\/ @jarrydnurden)<\/p>\n

Not thinking too much of it, he battled through his symptoms and continued performing in a Christmas pantomime while doctors \ufeffinvestigated further.<\/p>\n

By mid 2023, Nurden was diagnosed with primary malignant neuroendocrine neoplasm of the lung \u2013 a rare form of lung cancer.<\/p>\n

That phone call, on which he had been given the devastating news, felt like “being underwater”, Nurden told The Independent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Everything just slows down and you’re like, ‘Oh, I have cancer’. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I work really hard. How is this happening?” he said.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE: Grey’s Anatomy star reveals cancer diagnosis<\/a><\/p>\n

\"JarrydThe news shocked Nurden to his core. (Instagram\/ @jarrydnurden)<\/p>\n

After the diagnosis, Nurden was offered to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy or a major operation, called a lobectomy, to remove the lower lobe of his lung.<\/p>\n

He opted for the latter and had the entire lower lobe of his lung removed in October 2023 to remove the remaining cancer cells.<\/p>\n

Recovery for which, Nurden tells The Independent, was “really hard”.<\/p>\n

“I think it was touch and go at one point. And then I just wasn’t getting better\ufeff,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It was going on for four months in the hospital. I had to have a second open surgery to clear infections. It was hell.”\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"JarrydNurden opted for a surgery to have half of his lung removed. (Instagram\/ @jarrydnurden)<\/p>\n

Due to his health battle, Nurden had been forced to turn down a role in the international tour of the musical Chicago.<\/p>\n

But he later had the opportunity to return to the stage playing Mary Sunshine in Chicago’s September run in China, taking to the stage for the first time just months after his most recent surgery.<\/p>\n

“I mean, the challenge was intense. It was a one-day rehearsal in London. It was flying to the other side of the world, landing, two-hour rehearsal, back onstage. In the tightest clothing as well!” he told the publication of his return to the stage.<\/p>\n

Nurden recalled feeling “immense gratitude” after returning to the stage for the first time since his diagnosis. (Instagram\/ @jarrydnurden)<\/p>\n

After taking to the stage for the first time since his diagnosis, Nurden recalled feeling “immense gratitude”.<\/p>\n

“I think when you go through something very life-changing, you stop sweating the small stuff,” he told The Independent.<\/p>\n

“You often hear people talk about how their lives have changed when they’ve had major traumas happen to them, and you don’t often relate, but I can \ufeffvery much relate now.”<\/p>\n

\"Jarryd“I survived not it’s time to live,” Jarryd wrote in a recent Instagram post. (Instagram\/ @jarrydnurden)<\/p>\n

Reflecting in a recent post on his Instagram as he marked his 34th birthday, Nurden gushed with pride for all that he’s been through.<\/p>\n

“I survived… now it’s time to LIVE,” he wrote in the sentimental post.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Jarryn Nurden has returned to the stage after losing half of his lung to a rare form…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-289672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}