Roman Reigns Shares Candid Story of Leukemia Diagnosis and Treatment in WWE Documentary

In October, Roman Reigns shook the wrestling world by revealing he needed to leave WWE to fight [...]

By Jeremy Snodgrass

In October, Roman Reigns shook the wrestling world by revealing he needed to leave WWE to fight off leukemia for the second time. In the months that followed, details of the disease and Reigns treatment were almost non-existent. But in a new episode of WWE Chronicle, Reigns shares all of that information.

Reigns' documentary aired after Raw on Monday, which revealed that The Big Dog was dealing with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), a non-curable, but treatable form of cancer that starts in bone marrow. If not quickly diagnosed, CML can turn into an acute form of leukemia that tends to be fatal.

During Chronicle, Reigns walked viewers through how he found out about the diagnosis.

"I was at a live event, I believe it was either a Saturday or a Sunday. I just remember one of our doctors telling me that something was going on with my blood tests and they wanted to do another one because they thought something was off. So I went in and did another one and then I remember going to TV on Monday. I remember one of the refs coming up to me and usually they'll be like 'you're needed in TR [Talent Relations], Mark [Carrano] wants to see you.' And I'm like 'ah yeah, whatever. I'll get there when I get there,'" he recalled.

But Reigns soon learned that the issue was a little more urgent than a standard visit with WWE's medical team.

"But this time they're like 'Hey, Dr. Amann, the medical staff want to see you.' So I knew something was up. But I still in my head didn't truly believe it. It was just like, 'Ah, something weird. You'll be fine. Blah blah blah.' But when I got there, I could tell. The whole crew was in there. They broke the news that my white blood cell count was obviously elevated. We could point fingers in certain directions, but with my history they kinda already knew what was going on," he said.

Reigns quickly began an oral form of chemotherapy that led to arthritis from his feet to his hips.

"It's not like taking Advil. It's nothing like taking radiation and true chemotherapy, but it does have its side effects," said Roman. "It does have its nastiness about it. At the end of the day, if you're lucky enough to just take a pill, I think you're ahead of the game. An oral chemotherapy is a huge win for people. And I'm one of them. It's allowed me to maintain a certain level of health and allowed me to stay out of pain," he said.

On the February 25 episode of Raw, Reigns made a triumphant return to WWE and announced that his cancer had gone into remission. The news melted the WWE Universe and The Big Dog is already back into the fray as he's booked for Fastlane this Sunday alongside his Shield compadres, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

[H/T Fightful]

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