After Simone Smith was diagnosed with an extraordinary bone cancer in 2004, her husband LL Cool J learned not to take anything else in existence for granted. She’s been in remission for 14 years, and in combination, the couple has been working to raise awareness and price range in opposition to discovering a remedy for the illness.
LL Cool J and Simone Smith are some of the long-lasting couples in the entertainment business.
They met as youngsters in 1987 and tied the knot in 1995 after dating for 8 years. Together, they're folks to four grown-up children, and throughout the 3 a long time they have spent with each and every different, the pair has faced some tricky moments in lifestyles.
SIMONE’S BATTLE AGAINST CANCER
Perhaps the most difficult situation they faced was finding out of Simone’s cancer diagnose in 2004. She had a chondrosarcoma level 3 tumor, a unprecedented bone cancer, in her right tibia bone.
Simone went thru a 15-hour surgery where medical doctors got rid of her right tibia and changed it with her left fibula, a still rod, screws, nails and micro veins from her different leg.
“It was a two-and-a-half-year restoration, the place I needed to learn how to walk again. I went from a wheelchair to 2 crutches, to one crutch to a cane,” she recalled in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
WHAT LL COOL J LEARNED
LL Cool J, real identify James Todd Smith, was there for his wife through each and every step of the adventure.
"I take into accout sitting in the doctor's place of job, and he wanted to present his fibula bone... as a result of he felt that his fibula bone would be bigger and more potent,” Simone recalled.
The 51-year-old star revealed that Simone’s cancer diagnose taught him how to be grateful, supportive, and not to take everything for granted.
"I learned that left turns may come, proper turns may just come. You can't all the time see round every corner, but you just must have religion, and you have got to have gratitude, you got to roll with humility, you were given to imagine. I believe in God strongly, and you got to imagine in your self too."
The rapper and “Lip-Sync Battle” host was overprotective of his wife even after surgery. He would warn visitors to “pull themselves together” before seeing her. "Todd would inform them, 'You can't cross in there crying,'" Simone revealed.
RAISING AWARENESS
After her recovery process, Simone decided to turn her battle with cancer into something positive and created her jewelry line SIS—short for Simone I. Smith—. Part of the proceeds from her sales goes to the American Cancer Society.
She and LL also partnered with ACS to launch the "Beat Cancer Like a Boss" campaign this year, and they enlisted the help of some famous friends like Mary J. Blige, Offset, Remy Ma, Salt-N-Pepa, Jhene Aiko, Jordin Sparks and more.
"The campaign is 'Beat Cancer Like a Boss,' and in the case of that, she's surely been a boss," LL mentioned of his wife. And added:
"I believe that such a lot of folks, if you'll encourage others to learn more, dream extra, do more, that is being a chairman, and that's the reason why we did this marketing campaign for the American Cancer Society and for Simone Smith, her jewellery, which a portion of all of the proceeds move to the ACS."
Simone wants to empower cancer patients and cancer survivor to join the fight against the disease and be confident in their power to beat it.
“Have faith," she said. "Find your inner strength. Be confident."
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