Tarek El Moussa, ‘Flip Or Flop’ Star, Diagnosed With Cancer After Fan Spotted Lump

Tarek El Moussa, who stars on HGTV’s Flip or Flop, is in remission from thyroid cancer after a fan letter led to his diagnosis.

Tarek El Moussa’s Cancer

Back in 2013, a registered nurse named Ryan Read was watching Flip or Flop when she noticed the lump on El Moussa’s neck. Concerned about the host, Read emailed producers to share her fear that El Moussa unknowingly had thyroid cancer. As a result of the letter, El Moussa had a biopsy, which led to his cancer diagnosis.

“I feel good, but I don’t have the energy I used to have,” El Moussa, who is in remission after surgery and thyroid radioactive iodine therapy, told People magazine. “The only thing is most days or like half the time I feel a little jetlagged. I’m really tired.”

“The last three years have been a pretty big challenge,” said El Moussa, adding, “There is always that chance of reoccurrence but every year that goes by the odds of reoccurrence goes down so it’s good. I have slowed down quite a bit. Which is actually a good thing because I can actually relax now.”

During an episode of The Doctors, Moussa expressed his gratitude for Read sending the email to his producers.

‘If it wasn’t for TV and her noticing this huge lump on my neck, I would still be moving forward with my life, with cancer in my body and probably never done anything about it,” Tarek said on the show, where he met Read for the first time. “It was just such an amazing experience to meet this person because she stepped up and did what others probably wouldn’t have done.”

“I probably would’ve never known that I had cancer,’ Moussa continued. “And by the time that I would’ve found out, it probably would’ve been in a much further stage.”