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Figure skater and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, who was first diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1997, is gearing up for another Scott Hamilton & Friends concert.
Hamilton said this year’s star-studded event is shaping up to be the most “epic” yet. “We have lead singers from Loverboy, Chicago, Journey, Kansas and REO Speedwagon,” he told People of the lineup of artists.
The fundraiser benefits Hamilton’s CARES Foundation, an organization that works with cancer research centers and focuses on finding cures that prevent long-term harm to patients.
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Scott Hamilton addresses the crowd during the Legacy On Ice US Figure Skating Benefit at Capital One Arena on March 2, 2025 in Washington, DC (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
“For so long, chemotherapy, traditional radiation, all the surgeries that have traditionally been used, they do harm to the patient. We like to partner with like-minded organizations to advance specific cancer research — immunotherapy, targeted therapy, proton therapy — anything that will treat the cancer and spare the patient harm,” Hamilton said.
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After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy to treat his cancer in 1997, Hamilton learned he had a pituitary tumor in 2004. The tumor was removed, but he battled another brain tumor six years later. It returned in 2016, but Hamilton chose not to undergo surgery to treat the benign tumor.
The 67-year-old said he continues to live a full life.
NBC analyst Scott Hamilton attends the figure skating team wait during the 2018 Winter Olympics at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 12, 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
“Life is great,” Hamilton told People about his health status. “I live fully, live healthy, live without limitations.”
He added: “I mean, I’m on meds for the rest of my life – but that’s okay. I always say there are two types of people on the planet: Those who will one day be on meds, or those who are already on meds.”
The four-time US figure skating champion remains optimistic about a future where no lives are taken by cancer.
Scott Hamilton during a television interview on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. (Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
“Everything I’ve learned, everything I’ve seen, everything I’ve witnessed, everything I believe to be true says that there will come a time, probably in my lifetime — and I’m 67, so it’s not like I have decades and decades left — is that there will be a day when nobody dies of cancer.”
Hamilton was born in Ohio and first started skating when he was 9.
