“He was a man of great faith – great, great faith.” That’s how actor Gary Sinise describes his 33-year-old son Mac, who died in January after a torturesome battle with Chordoma, a rare and persistent cancer that starts in the spine. The “Forrest Gump” star told CBN News that his son “loved his Catholic faith” and deeply embraced it throughout his challenging journey. Sinise said of the health struggle that started in 2018, “It was just inspiring to see how it helped sustain him through this cancer battle.”
For years, the family fought alongside Mac, trying available medications and anything believed to be able to heal him potentially. Sinise said he was there to battle alongside Mac as long as he kept fighting. And that expedition wasn’t easy, as the loving dad recounted the “very disabling and crippling” nature of the disease. After the first tumor was removed in September 2018, Mac was monitored. Tragically, by May 2019, the cancer had returned. Sinise said, “It had come back, and it was starting to spread throughout his body. He was back in the hospital again, and he started chemo and radiation at that point, but there is no cure for this particular cancer. There’s no reliable drug that has been used to fight it that has been effective.”
The unpredictable nature of the cancer meant doctors would often throw different treatments and medications into the mix, hoping to thwart the malignancy — but to no avail. Mac faced spinal surgery, multitudes of hospital visits, and more, bravely fighting for his life along the way. “These tumors were growing very fast,” Sinise said. “Uncharacteristically fast for Chordoma.” Mac had to resign from his position with the Gary Sinise Foundation as he mustered the energy to fight on, relying on faith to cope and process. Throughout the ordeal, Mac prayed, journaled — and revisited creating music he started years before but never completed.
Despite Mac’s struggles, Sinise said his son’s spirit was genuinely uplifted and bright, with his faith supporting him throughout his tribulations. “I know his faith played a strong part in helping to sustain him through this battle,” Sinise said. “And I was there with him every step of the way in these hospital stays and with [him] those final days before he died and saw him struggling.” He continued, “But I knew that he was fulfilled with what he’d accomplished at the end.” Sinise, who is also a man of deep faith, was candid about the struggles of being a loving father watching his son suffer, especially as his wife, Moira, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer just months before Mac’s diagnosis, herself facing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.
As Mac’s life came to a close, Sinise said his son was thinking a lot about his mortality, recognizing “cancer was beating him” and realizing what that would mean. He spent time reading a St. Augustine prayer book that contained underlined text and his thoughts, giving a lens into his spiritual condition. “That was his special prayer book that he left his mother,” Sinise said. “He wrote in it, ‘At my passing, give to mom,’ and a lot of things [are] underlined in there.”
Mac also left behind media files that now offer the family even greater insight into what was streaming through his heart and mind as he approached the end of his cancer fight.