The Forrest Gump actor has now revealed heartbreaking details of his son’s last moments.
Gary Sinise deserves to live in peace and happiness since he has brought harmony back into the lives of so many veterans.
But the well-known actor has recently experienced severe personal suffering.
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We were devastated to learn two months ago of McCanna “Mac” Sinise’s passing following a protracted battle with cancer. However, his father Gary Sinise is just now sharing intimate details about his son’s last days. Gary describes in an interview with ET how his son handled the last challenging times in his life with grace.
Gary began by disclosing that his son had finished a music record he had been working on for a few years. “I bought him his first drum set when he was 9 years old,” Gary remembered in an
”He played through high school, and then he went to USC Thornton School of Music. He was playing drums all through college and studying songwriting and composition. He created a bunch of pieces of music while he was at college.”
However, Mac did nothing with them other than store them away in the final years of his life. ”Dad, I think I want to try to finish this music that I worked on all those years ago in college,” he stated in January 2023.
Similar to his father, Mac has exceptional musical ability and technique. He picked up the harmonica during his cancer treatment. In the final week of his life, Mac recorded the last few tracks for his album, which is currently in the final stages of production. On the Gary Sinise Foundation website, it will be for sale. For anyone who would like to listen to it, it will also be available for streaming.
Last days of his life
Gary recalls the day Mac hosted a viewing party. Regretfully, it would turn into a sort of goodbye.
”It was a joyful day. The following night, I went on television and talked about Mac. Then the next day, I had to call the ambulance and take him to the hospital,”Gary shares.
However, Mac’s need to visit the hospital was not unusual. Usually, he would stay for a few days, stabilize, and then be allowed to return home. The family was wrong when they assumed that would also be the case on this particular day. Doctors at the hospital discovered how bad the situation was, and the Sinise family soon concluded that Mac was most likely nearing the end of his life.
While many might believe that everything in this case was hopeless, Gary notes that Mac found comfort in the knowledge that he had fulfilled all of his life’s ambitions.
Although there were definitely bad days, Mac was a real warrior the entire time.
”He was at peace. He was happy at the end of his life. He was joyful… He was smiling,” Gary says.
Story of Forrest Gump on his deathbed
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Gary also shared a beautiful, touching anecdote about his son in the ET interview. Although Gary was there with Mac in his final moments, there were moments when he had to step away from his son’s hospital bed.
This short tale started to take shape at one of these times.
”I was staying with him at the hospital at the end… I had to step out for something at one point, and I stopped by the nurse’s station on the way in. I said, ‘How’s Mac doing? What’s he’s doing?’ [The nurse said], ‘He’s watching “Forrest Gump” on his phone.’ He was in there watching ‘Forrest Gump.’ It made him feel good. I think it made him feel closer to me sometimes. He would watch it when I was gone,” Gary shared.
Tried 25 different drugs
In August 2018, Gary Sinise, a father of three, disclosed the unusual cancer diagnosis of his kid.
Mac had begun to feel a noticeable ache in his tailbone. He tried to ignore the agony at first, but finally realized that he had to see a physician. Regretfully, a large tumor was found on his sacrum, a lower back bone. Despite the tumor’s removal by medical professionals, the malignancy came back in 2019. As things deteriorated, Mac went through times of excruciating anguish.
”It was not going to get better. There’s no cure,” Gary shared and added:
”We tried 25 different drugs. These are just drugs that are used on other cancers and the doctors kept trying and they said, ‘As long as you want to keep trying, Mac, we’ll keep trying. We’ll come up with something.’ Mac said, ‘I want to keep trying.’ He was an incredible fighter.”
Eventually, Mac’s disease rendered him paralyzed. He lost all sensation from his chest down and was unable to move.
”It’s just the nature of this awful cancer. He was fighting and I wasn’t going to stop fighting for him. I never wanted to think that we were going to lose the battle even though you know that you’re fighting uphill all the way.”
In an effort to bring attention to this awful type of illness, Gary Sinise has shared his son’s story on numerous occasions. Telling Mac’s story helps preserve his legacy as well because, despite his illness, he seemed to be an amazing and motivating person as well.
It is still difficult for Gary to accept that his son is no longer at his side; nobody should have to die at the age of thirty-three.
”It’s hard to even think like that, because somehow it feels like he’s just on vacation, he’s gonna come back.”
We are sending our deepest sympathies to the Sinise family and all other cancer patients. Take care, as you never know what might happen next. A small act of kindness in someone’s life can make a HUGE difference. You never know what someone is going through…
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interview with ET.
