Dawson's Creek star James van der Beek says his family have been 'so supportive' since cancer diagnosis

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James Van Der Beek says his family have been "so supportive" of him amid his cancer battle.

The 47-year-old actor has found strength in his wife, Kimberly, and their children - Olivia, 14, Joshua, 12, Annabel, ten, Emilia, eight, Gwen, six, and Jeremiah, three - since he received his diagnosis.

Speaking about his wife, James told People: "There’s no way to get through this without her. As much as it sucked this past year, there’s not a moment that I ever would have wanted to trade with her watching me go through this. To every caregiver out there, man, God bless you and thank you."

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James Van Der Beek and his wife KimberlyJames Van Der Beek and his wife Kimberly
James Van Der Beek and his wife Kimberly | Getty Images for Hilarity for Ch

Although James' children have felt "scared" at times, they've also been hugely supportive of him.

The 'Dawson's Creek' star said: "They’re scared. It’s natural. But they’ve been so supportive and loving and tender."

James recently admitted that he was caught off-guard by his diagnosis. The actor - who was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer - told People: "It was just a change in bowel habits.

"I thought, I probably need to change my diet a little bit. Maybe I need to stop coffee. Maybe I need to not put cream in the coffee. And then I finally took that out of the diet, and it didn't improve, and I thought, all right, I better go get this checked out."

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Initially, James was relaxed about the situation, assuming it would be easy to remedy. He shared: "I felt really, really good as I was coming out of anaesthesia that I had finally done it and looked into it. And as I was coming out of the haze, the gastroenterologist said - in his most pleasant bedside manner - it is cancer."

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