Gary Sinise revealed his son Mac lost his ability to move before he died of cancer at age 33 in 2024.
“Mac tried 25 different drugs over a four-and-a-half year period,” the “Forrest Gump” star, 71, said in an interview with People published Wednesday.
“I never lost hope that we were going to hit the sweet spot,” Sinise added.
Sinise — who stepped away from acting in 2020, two years after Mac was diagnosed with chordoma, a rare bone tumor that forms in your spine or skull base — compared his late son to the hero soldier in the 2019 Oscar-winning film “1917.”
Mac, his dad said, was “running through the battlefield, [with] bombs knocking you down, and you’re still getting back up.”
The “13 Reasons Why” alum added that the family “didn’t get the miracle we were all praying for, but there were other miracles, like the way Mac lived his life.”
Sinise’s daughter, Ella, told the outlet Mac’s “body was just destroyed” by the end of his cancer battle.
“But sick Mac was still a beautiful person,” Ella shared. “He didn’t let it stop him.”
Mac, according to Ella, went to Mass, learned to play the harmonica and watched Cubs games with his mom, Moira, when he was sick.
Sinise’s other daughter, Sophie, said the family “surrounded him when he took his last breath.”
“As hard as it was, we got a glimpse into eternal life,” Sophie told the outlet. “And the gifts keep unfolding. You feel his presence everywhere.”
While Mac was sick, Sinise also acted as a caretaker to his wife Moira, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent eight chemotherapy and 35 radiation treatment sessions before she was declared cancer-free by 2024.
However, Moira also battled degenerative lumbar disc disease and had to undergo two hip replacements and spinal surgery, which left her permanently disabled and unable to drive.
“She relies on me a lot because she is challenged physically, and that frustrates her,” Sinise told People. “But she is my best friend and my emotional backbone.”
Moira likened Sinise caring for his sick son and wife at the same time to being “the man at the circus juggling plates.”
“All I wanted to do was hold him,” she added, “and I couldn’t.”
But Sinise stands by his decision to make his family his “priority” over his career.
“One of the blessings is that I had succeeded in Hollywood, and I could afford to be there for my family 24/7,” he shared.
The father of three also said Mac has inspired the family in how they’ve navigated life since his passing.
“He wouldn’t want us to be curled up in a ball in the corner,” Sinise added. “He wouldn’t want us to fall apart. He wanted us to be strong and to continue to live.”
Sinise is sharing more about his son’s tragic death in his upcoming memoir, “Graceful Warrior: The True Story of a Son, a Father, and a Family Who Carried Each Other Through,” which comes out later this month.
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