Suzanne Rogers is giving an update about her health after revealing she was diagnosed with cancer.
The 82-year-old actor, better known as Maggie Horton on Days of Our Lives, was diagnosed with stage two colorectal cancer this past summer. However, she said during an interview published last month, that she fully completed cancer treatment in July and was preparing to start filming for the Peacock show, which she’s been on for 52 years.
Now, Rogers is sharing an update on her health, acknowledging that she’s “feeling so much better.”
“I mean, my summer was rough. I had cancer removed, radiation, that was tough,” she said during an interview with People published Monday. “But I didn’t lose my hair. I guess I got it early.”
“I was stage two, and it was a certain kind of chemo that they gave me, it was pills and the radiation, and it didn’t affect it so that was good,” she added, before confirming that she’s now “in remission.”
Rogers is in the midst of getting her energy back, one step at a time.
“It’s about 70% right now. I’m just basically letting things happen. I’m not making anything happen,” she said.
She also shared that since her diagnosis, her outlook on everyday life has changed. “I don’t worry about the small things,” the actor explained. “It’s not worth it. I was rushing here, and I went, ‘Wait a minute. You’re not going anywhere.’”
During an October interview with TV Insider, she recalled noticing that something “wasn’t quite right” this summer, prompting her to book an appointment with her doctor, who sent her for a colonoscopy.
After a surgeon saw her results, he instructed her to get an MRI, a PET scan, and a biopsy. “And the minute he said that, I knew that it was something more,” Rogers told the publication. Following another procedure, it was then discovered that she had stage two colorectal cancer.
“He said, ‘You have cancer and you have to start treatment,’” Rogers recalled. “It was all a shock. I mean, I think I was in a shock for several days because I take pretty good care of myself. But he said, ‘It’s a good thing you caught it in time.’”
The actor began treatment in June, just a few days after wrapping scenes on Days of Our Lives. The treatment included “radiation every day and chemo every day for six weeks,” which was fortunately when the long-running program was in the middle of a six-week break. At the time, the show’s producers also made sure to constantly call her to remind her that her job would still be waiting for her when she got back.
After completing treatment July 31, Rogers has spent time preparing for her return to set.
As Days of Our Lives is currently 10 months ahead in production, there will be a portion of time in 2026 when Rogers’ character is not on-screen.
New episodes of the longest-running running soap-opera will be available every morning to stream on Peacock.
