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Jill Zarin Reveals Her Husband Bobby's Cancer Is Back

Former Real Housewives of New York City star's husband was first diagnosed in 2009

By Lily Harrison, Zach Johnson Nov 22, 2016 12:12 AMTags
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Jill Zarin, former star of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City, shared some sad news with E! News at the Angel Ball in New York Monday: Her husband Bobby Zarin's cancer is back.

"He's getting the best of care. We like to share this story because we like to help everybody," Jill explained while holding back tears on the red carpet. "We have a great team...He had thyroid cancer that had spread to the lungs but it's all going to be good."

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Bobby shared, "It's just so fresh but I feel great."

The Bravolebrity further explained how the couple is working through this recent diagnosis, saying, "You have to live to live because we want to be here to raise money for cancer research. We want to live our lives to the fullest...We don't want to miss anything while Bobby's healthy and strong and we're just going to fight it."

After Bobby was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in June 2009, he had his thyroid removed and underwent a radioactive iodine treatment. But, during a routine checkup at the Princeton Longevity Center in 2015, doctors discovered that Bobby's cancer had spread to his lungs. The Zarin Fabrics founder, 70, showed zero symptoms the first time he was diagnosed—or the second.

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The Zarins turned to Dr. David Pfister, a top oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, Dr. Keith Bible, a top oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and Dr. Richard Lazzaro, a leader in the field of robotic thoracic surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, for guidance.

For two years, Bobby's lungs were scanned regularly to see if the tumors had grown. After he got a fourth medical opinion at the Mayo Clinic in April 2015, Lazzaro removed Bobby's tumors using the da Vinci Robotic System—a minimally invasive option for major surgery. Jill, 52, then sent samples of her husband's cancerous tissue to Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, whose company developed technology that attempts to pinpoint genetic mutations in a person's specific cancer.

Bobby is currently undergoing treatment at MD Anderson through the Zarins' friendship with Dr. Ron De Pinho, who is guiding their treatment. Also on their team is Dr. Steve Sherman, Dr. Jeffrey Weinberg and Dr. Mary McAleer guiding the gamma radiation team next week in Houston. Unfortunately Bobby's cancer has spread to his brain and that is the treatment he is getting.