Ten Celebrities Who Conquered Illness

For Patti Labelle, who turns 67 this week, and Drew Carey, who’s just turned 58, a birthday has special meaning. Both Patti and Drew battled what could have been life-threatening health problems. Like the rest of us, stars are vulnerable to frightening and occasionally fatal illnesses. But many celebs who manage or conquer their problems use their experience to advocate for research or support for less well-known people who are suffering their disease. Here are ten stars who faced tragedy—and triumphed.

Patti LaBelle

When she was diagnosed with diabetes in 1992, Patti already knew the heartbreak that illness can cause. Her three sisters all died of cancer shortly before that, and Patti’s mother died of diabetes at 58. So the news of her diabetes made her rethink her life and her health habits. She also started on an outreach campaign of her own, writing several cookbooks aimed at diabetcs. Her message to everyone – both diabetic and not: “Never neglect yourself, not for a minute.”

Drew Carey The affable comic and "Price is Right" host is a guy’s guy, and guys don’t diet, right? As Drew learned, that is so wrong. After undergoing a coronary angioplasty in 2001 and being diagnosed with diabetes a short time after, he started on a macho weight loss plan that led to an 80-pound drop over the next few years. Even more amazing, his new lifestyle led to the reversal of his diabetes. But, like everyone else who’s been on a diet, he’s fallen off the wagon. After eating an ice cream cone, he devoured an entire pepperoni pizza and a cupcake. He felt terrible, both physically and mentally, and has kept on the right track since with the help of a message he posted on his bathroom mirror: “Eating crappy food is not a reward.”

Teri Garr Teri, 64, the Oscar-nominated actress still remembered for her star turn in “Tootsie,” was diagnosed in 1999 with multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic, degenerative disease that affects movement and speech. But like many people, both famous and not, she was worried about going public, fearing that it would affect her career. Finally, she opened up in 2005 with the publication of her autobiography. Since then, she’s also worked with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Garr, who handles her illness through medicine and exercise, has some advice to newly diagnosed MS patients: Relax. “MS affects everyone differently. The status of MS research has never been more exciting and there are many therapies available that slow the progression of the disease.”

Edie Falco Talk about tough. When Edie, 48, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, she went right on playing mob wife Carmela in “The Sopranos,” keeping her illness secret from her castmates because she’s a private person—and a sick actress might not get too many other jobs. Finally, she went public in 2005. "It was a terribly frightening and surreal time,” Edie told an interviewer, “but I never missed a day of work, even on the worst chemo days…You learn to live with it and are amazed how you find ways to be grateful for it.” Today, Edie’s playing yet another tough woman: the title character in the sardonic Showtime comedy “Nurse Jackie.”

Michael J. Fox Michael, 50, has made himself into the model of a well-known person both managing a disease and doing advocacy work for curing it. In 1990, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative illness that leads to difficulty in movement and speech and can ultimately result in dementia. After his diagnosis, Fox went though a period of alcoholism as he attempted to come to terms with the illness. But since then, he has focused his energy on publicizing the need for a cure, doing everything from public speaking to recording political ads advocating stem-cell research. Through all of this, Fox has had one of the biggest helps of all: a loving caregiver, his wife Tracy Pollan.

Kathy Bates Kathy, 63, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003, but it took six years for her to go public with her story. Like Edie Falco, she prefers to keep her personal life and her career separate. I even got to the point where I didn’t go with my friends to chemo. I went by myself,” she told interviewer Meredith Vieira. “I just had to really to do it on my own.” But Kathy's attitude later changed. “I’ve decided to share my story and maybe help other women, because early detection is the key in this kind of cancer,” she told Vieira. “I was so lucky to find it early. Paying attention to your body and paying attention to certain symptoms… it saved my life.”

Mandy Patinkin Mandy , the singer and Broadway star who now plays the brillitant, enigmatic spy Saul Berenson in the cable series “Homeland,” has had not one but two critical illnesses. He was diagnosed with keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease, in the mid-1990s and underwent two corneal transplants. Several years later, in 2004, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Following his treatment and recovery, Mandy celebrated by going on a 200-mile bike ride to benefit an Israeli charity. He’s also done benefit work for the Christopher Reeve Foundation, a group founded by the late actor who died years after suffering a spinal cord injury.

Jill Eikenberry The former “L.A. Law” actress, now 65, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984. She made the discovery shortly after she and husband Michael Tucker moved to L.A. to be in the series about a high-powered law firm. Three years later, Jill produced “Destined to Live,” a documentary about breast cancer. In a 2010 interview, Jill said that “When I was first diagnosed, I was terrified, because in those days no one was talking about surviving breast cancer.” Thanks to aggressive treatment, she beat the odds. Today, Jill still speaks to organizations and hospitals about the need for research and support.

Sharon Osbourne It seems only natural that Sharon, 59, one of the most flamboyant figures in Hollywood, would handle her diagnosis of colon cancer in a very showbiz way. After she got the devastating news in 2002, Osbourne knew her hair would fall out during chemotherapy – and so she had her wigs made by Cher’s wigmaker. That aggressive attitude saw her through some more bad news: the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Now Osbourne is in remission, and she’s reached out to others by founding the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at the prestigious Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

Lance Armstrong The recovery made by the biking legend, 40, seems as close to the word “miracle” as you can get. Diagnosed with metastatic testicular cancer at age 25, Lance took an aggressive role in his own treatment. In 1998, two after undergoing chemotherapy and an operation to remove brain tumors, he was training again for the Tour de France. Since then, he’s made fighting cancer just as big a priority as biking. He’s the power behind the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which supplies funds for cancer research, and he’s behind a legislative measure, to be decided by California voters in June 2012, that would impose a tax on tobacco and use the money for further research.