Inside Tisha Campbell's 22-Year Battle With Sarcoidosis
Originally appeared on E! Online
Tisha Campbell has a positive update on her health journey.
The 55-year-old recently shared that she's been in remission from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that often presents in the lungs, for four years.
"I have to tell the truth, I have been in remission for four years now," an emotional Tisha explained on the June 5 episode of the Mibo Show podcast. "They can't find it at the base of my brain at all. I haven't gotten sick not one time."
She noted that in addition to sticking to a regimented exercise routine, to keep healthy she's also focused on relaxing. "Stress is a killer," she noted. "It's connected. Your body and stress."
And the Rags to Riches star also shared insight into her battle with the disease.
"I was diagnosed in 2002," she recalled. "It was right after I had my son. I was on the set of My Wife and Kids. I had had this cold—what I assumed was a cold—for a very long time. I had taken everything, over the counter, behind the counter. I just could not breathe. It felt like an elephant was on my chest."
More from E! Online
Billy Ray Cyrus Shares Message to Miley Cyrus Amid Alleged Family Rift
Nick Cannon Has His Balls Insured for $10 Million After Welcoming 12 Kids
While Tisha—who shares sons Xen, 22, and Ezekiel, 13 with ex Duane Martin—initially tried to continue on as usual, she decided to go see a doctor after noticing lesions on her neck and arms, and a particularly scary moment on set.
"I was doing a scene and it's hard for me to watch this scene—I had to sing ‘Ease on Down the Road,'" she explained. "I could see after the song that I was panicked in my eyes. Like, ‘I can't breathe.'"
After a trip to her primary care physician, she was referred to a pulmonologist who diagnosed her with stage one sarcoidosis. As she recalled, "He said, ‘you have four stages you can't let it get worse.'"
However, after giving birth to her second son, her disease became stage two. And despite the setback, the Little Shop of Horrors star was inspired by the late Bernie Mac, who suffered from stage four of the disease before his 2008 death, to focus on taking care of herself.
"I had a chance to talk to Bernie Mac," she recalled. "He had the worst kind. He was in between scenes like, getting oxygen. And I just didn't want to be that. I knew that any type of stress adds on to any type of disease you have."
And so Tisha's dedication to maintaining her stress levels and exercise is what she believes got her to remission. As she noted, "Everything helped."
We value your thoughts! Click here to share your feedback and help us improve!