Criss Angel and Shaunyl Benson‘s 5-year-old son Johnny’s cancer has returned after a brief remission, the illusionist revealed on Wednesday, December 4.
“He got diagnosed with pediatric cancer before he was 2 years old, he’s been in treatment for over three years, he’s been in remission, but unfortunately he had a relapse and he’s going back into the hospital on Monday,” the New York native, 51, told TMZ.
Ahead of their appointment, the magician has a fun weekend planned with his toddler. “We’re partly out here in California because we take Johnny to Disney,” he explained to the outlet. “I’m taking him to Universal tomorrow.”
The Mindfreak author and singer Benson, 28, who also share son Xristos, 10 months, welcomed Johnny in 2014. The little one was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia the following year.
In June 2016, Angel told Us Weekly exclusively that Johnny was on the road to recovery. “Johnny is technically in remission, thank God,” he revealed at the time. “I believe he will be healed. You always have to be optimistic. You always have to be positive. You always have to be focused on the good things. Life can throw challenges at you at any time and you never know what’s gonna happen and that’s what is life. It’s that you have to be positive and accept it as a journey, that it’s gonna have peaks and balance and that you’re always gonna persevere.”
The former Angeldust frontman opened up about how tough it was to watch his then-only child go through daily rounds of chemotherapy in July 2017. “I wish that I could take that disease and let him be free of it. No child should have to go through what he’s going through,” he told Us at the time. “He’s just a great, very bright, very happy boy that unfortunately has to go through a horrible experience. But he’s doing as well as he can do and he’s a really tough little boy.”
